The Other Child
by Freedom of the Eagle
Summary: What if Roshan wasn't the only kid Manny rescued? What if, two year's later, he finds a baby girl left all alone, and he, Diego and Sid raise her as their own? Watch her as she grows up, faces typical teenage problems, love and then parenthood, that's when things get complicated and she has to deal with a lot of blocks in the road. Can she get through, or will something bad happen?
1. Chapter 1

The Other Child: Chapter 1

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It had been two years since Manny, Sid and Diego rescued a human baby named Roshan and brought him home. New adventures came to the chilly trio. But one day, the memory of Manny's family being killed came back, he wandered away from his friends and left for a long walk.

* * *

Manny was caught completely off guard when the earthquake came

_Earthquakes don't normally happen this far north. What's going on?_ He asked himself. He ran off just as a landslide of rocks came tumbling towards him.

Manny ran until he heard something, he stopped, trying to listen through the ruckus. And sure enough, he could barely hear the wail of a baby.

_What in the world? Where is that coming from?_ He raced in the direction it was coming from, but stopped, because the wail was coming from right in front of him. He looked down, and saw a week-old baby girl crying for her mother, on the ground, vulnerable to any predator. She was all alone, her mother wasn't around. Nobody, except him.

Manny knew he had to make a quick decision, either eave the baby here to die, or to take it to safety.

_Take it to safety_ Manny thought, and just as a branch came down, he snatched the baby up and her cried lowered down.

* * *

Manny went back home, and eventually found Sid and Diego. Sid looked panicked. He told Manny

"We felt the earthquake. Are you alright Manny?" Manny knew the sloth had a right to be panicked. That earthquake came out of nowhere. He calmed the sloth down

"Relax Sid, we're both O.K." Then, Sid and Diego looked confused

"Who'd you bring with you Manny?" Manny uncurled his trunk

"This…" Sid looked at the baby, she opened her eyes and looked at them. She was wearing a deerskin dress with small boots.

"She's so young. How old do you think she is?" Manny observed her closely, trying to make a guess

"I don't know, maybe a week or two?" Diego stepped in

"We should try and search for her parents. They could be really worried about her right now." Manny and Sid nodded in agreement.

* * *

The trio searched for two days straight. No sign of any parent looking for their lost baby. Finally, they gave up

"I give up guys. We've been searching for two days and we haven't found _anybody_ looking for her."

"Does this mean what I think it means?" Sid asked. Manny knew it, they would have to keep her until someone came to claim her.

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**And there's the first chapter! Yep, Manny, Sid and Diego get to keep her. And for Flaming Crow, the orphan Manny rescued is Melissa at a week old. Hope you guys like this! R&R**

**P.S: If you want to know what Melissa looks like as a baby, picture baby Tarzan (from Disney in case you've never heard of it), but with brown eyes and a brown dress.**


	2. Chapter 2

The Other Child Chapter 2: Growing Up, A New Friend and Goodbye

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**Hey everyone, at the end of this chapter is actually has basically the plot of Ice Age: The Meltdown and a couple of chapters will happen between Ice Age 1 and Ice Age three.**

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Manny would've guessed Sid would try to baby-sit Melissa. Manny would have considered it, but he didn't. But turns out, she was pretty strong for being so small, she was no doubt going to be a strong fighter. Now that she was a month old. Nobody had come to claim her. And Sid went crazy after Manny and Diego told him they were going to keep her.

One day, while watching her for a while, Sid noticed something around her neck.

"What is that?" He asked, stepping foreword. He took one blunt claw and lifted it away from her chest. It was small little heart, It was made from some kind of stone.

"Did your mom give you this?' Sid asked.

"You do realize that she can't talk yet? Lord of the Flame?"

"Oh haha…my tail is not…" Sid trailed off, Melissa's eyes widened as smoke came from Sid's rear-end. And Sid ran around screaming his head off and waving his arms like a maniac.

Manny chuckled, and Melissa was laughing. Diego rolled his eyes and purred coolly

"Who's the Lord of the Flame now?" Sid sat down on a pile of snow and out came a _hiss_ as fire touched snow.

"Well, if Melissa makes fire when she gets older, she'll be supervised by someone who actually keep an eye on her."

"Are you challenging me?" Sid asked, pointing a burnt stick at Diego.

"Okay guys. Quit it."

* * *

1 year later…

"SID!" Manny and Diego shouted in sync. Once again, Sid's baby-sitting antics had gotten Melissa into some trouble. She was hanging upside down on a tree branch

"Daddy!" Melissa cried. Manny smiled when he heard her say that. He could remember his own son Dallen calling him the same thing before he and his mate Penny died.

Sid then same out of the bushes covered head to claw in mud.

"Fell in another mudhole again?" Manny asked. Sid grunted and was just about to pull Melissa out of the tree when Manny grabbed her and hoisted her on his back.

"Let's go before Sid brings the vultures, and before Melissa gets as smelly as Sid does." To this, Melissa giggled, but held her nose even though Sid was walking, but the pungent smell of mud…and probably something else she didn't want to say.

When they got back, Manny forced Sid to wash off. Earning another remark from Diego

"Someone else will be babysitting her."

"Whatever!"

* * *

2 years later…

"Marcus! Come on!" Melissa turned around and skidded to a stop as a brown-haired boy came up

"You…gotta….slow down. Okay? You're way too fast!" That started a little play-fight between the two.

Diego watched in amusement as the two fought, until it was over. And Melissa sat happily on Marcus's back while he laid on his belly on the ground. He had always challenged his best friend saying that boys were better than girls, but Melissa just proved girls were just as good.

The two grew up together for another 2 years. Getting along well, of course having the occasional mock-brawls that Marcus would usually begin. But everything seemed to be just fine. Until the day Marcus left.

* * *

Earlier that day…

"Marcus! Where are you!" Melissa called out. She ran into him and both fell to the ground. Marcus had a sad look on his face, Melissa saw the expression

"What's wrong?" Marcus lowered his head sadly, not even looking at her straight in the eye

"I…I'm leaving today. I'm going home with mom, dad and Shane."

"WHAT! You can't leave!"

"I gotta, dad works for the Navy (Marcus and his family are from the future in case you didn't catch that) and we're heading back to Tennessee and probably moving to North Dakota or maybe Oklahoma. I'm really sorry."

Manny raised his head when he heard some soft crying. He, Sid and Diego went in that direction and found Melissa saying what sounded like

"Goodbye." Marcus looked back one more time before disappearing into the wilderness going home.

Melissa never thought she'd have to say goodbye. But all that was forgotten when she was six, and Manny was convinced he was the last mammoth. Then they met Crash, Eddie and Ellie. Crash and Eddie were possums, Ellie however was convinced she was a possum even though Manny tried to convince her she was a mammoth. At the same time, Melissa was getting constantly bugged by the possums, and eventually, the dam busted and the entire valley flooded. Melissa almost drowned in the process but was saved when Scrat made a huge crack and all the water flooded out, eventually all these mammoths came out and Manny and Ellie now knew they weren't the last ones anymore.

With that they became mates. A new adventure would begin in a few years…

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**There you have it! Thank you everyone for your lovely reviews, keep reviewing and I'll keep posting! See ya! ;)**


	3. Chapter 3

The Other Child Chapter 3: Return, With A New Friend

Melissa' P.O.V

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At the age of 9 ½, things go pretty smoothly, though I really miss Marcus. How much longer before he comes back. Sid often tried to cheer me up with archery, but nothing works. He was my best friend! My _first_ best friend. We did everything together, I don't know what to do nowadays, it's lonely, and I try to think of something pleasant, but nothing.

To take my mind off things, I grab my bow and arrows and head off into the forest to shoot trees.

As I walk into the dappled sunlight, a memory comes back

"_Marcus! Come on!" We were running through the woods playing hide and seek when I was three, right before he left._

"_Mellie!" Which was his nickname for me, "wait up!" I skid to a stop and he crashes into me, he's in an awkward position and I shove him off. After a moment, we burst out laughing and continue to chase each other_

_End of flashback…_

Ah, I miss those times. He was such a nice kid, he seemed to know whatever I said when no one else could and we stayed by each other all the time. Of course, that ended after he left.

I drag my boots on the ground, not paying attention when I suddenly walk right into someone. Or walks into me. I look up, and I realize we fell to the ground. I see that it's a boy, about a year older than me.

We stare at each other and the boy helps me stand up, but when he yanks me up, we're almost chest to chest and I realize who it was

"MARCUS! You're back!" I hug him so tight

"Me…lissa…can't…breathe." I let go. But I am so happy to see him but he doesn't have the always happy-go-lucky face I was so used to, instead, it's more depressed and lonely. I grab his hand and we walk back together.

* * *

When we get back, dad, Sid and Diego greet him, which makes him smile, then Crash, Eddie, and Ellie appear and Crash says

"He doesn't look like anyone we know." After a long explanation, we sit down by a fire, after another mishap Sid had and Marcus explains why he is so sad

"Well, when I was running away from home, dad followed me, but as I was about to turn around, and heard a gunshot, and dad was lying on the ground, and a bullet penetrated through his abdomen." I stare at him, he had watched his own father die in front of him

"Hey, it'll be okay." I assure him and he shrugs.

* * *

It has been nearly a year since Marcus came back and the old happy attitude has come back and we're still catching up on things we missed. He tells me about his brother and sister, and I tell him about the entire valley flooding.

After talking, we had towards the hills and end up having a snowball fight. We laugh, but then, the ground begins to shake and we look up. An avalanche, though not huge, comes towards us and we're buried.

It's cold, and something begins scraping at the surface above us. Marcus is pulled out first, then me. We're about to thank whoever saved us, and as we turn around, we see a dragon. A female. We don't know what to do and we sit there, she sniffs us and then, she says

"**Are you two alright?**" I almost scream

"H-how can you understand us?" The dragon shrugs, but offers a flight back home, we refuse, but she understands and offers to walk back home with us and we reluctantly agree.

As we walk back, I'm still shivering, and the dragon introduces herself as Artemisia. She appears to have just reached maturity and she looks rather calm around us.

When we get home, dad thanks Artemisia for saving us and invites her to stay. At first, she looks hesitant, but when she sees me, she relaxes and agrees. Why she looked at me that way, I'll never know, but she seems very sweet.

And just like that, she, Marcus and I become best friends.

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**There ya go! There is how Artemisia meets Melissa and Marcus for the first time. For those of you who have reviewed Toothless' Friend, this is one of the backstories. I'm planning on writing a one-shot on Toothless, Sienna and their two sons, but I have to write it out first. See ya in the next chapter, and sorry it took so long to update!**


	4. Chapter 4

The Other Child Chapter 4: More Adventures

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Things were going great for the young trio. Especially for Melissa, since Marcus came back and Artemisia saved their lives. And Melissa noticed that Artemisia was just about to reach maturity, so she might have to wait awhile before they went flying, but that didn't bother Melissa at all, for now, she could work on her archery, which she had become much mores killed at even at her age of 10, and another huge plus was that Ellie was about to give birth to what would be soon her half-sister, but they didn't know that quite yet.

Marcus was pretty happy to be back with his best friend, but he still regretted leaving his mother, brother and baby sister behind, he was fatherless now, but it didn't mean he could look up to Manny for guidance, but it still wasn't the same without his dad, and he still couldn't believe he had watched his father die right in front of him, he knew that when he got older, he was going to take revenge on the man who killed his dad.

Artemisia, still at her late teenage years, watched over her two friends, but like Marcus in a way, she missed her family very much, but the friends she had now she considered her family. Even though Crash and Eddie drove her nuts with foolish pranks, which most were played on her, sometimes she had to threaten them with breathing fire on them. And she and Sid were very competitive of taking care of the fire every night, and they would bet on it, once Artemisia had told him, for a dragon, it only takes them just seconds to make their fire for breathing out. For humans (and a sloth in this case) it takes ten minutes. The argument went on until Artemisia finally won.

But over all, things were going great, even though Melissa was annoyed when Manny had gone overboard when he thought the baby was being born (I think you all remember this scene from Ice Age 3) and Ellie said it was just a kick. To the overreaction, Melissa whispered

"He's going crazy over one baby." Artemisia and Marcus just shrugged, but Artemisia did shake her head in pity.

But then, Sid got jealous that Manny and Ellie were expecting, so he fell through a thin patch of ice, and found three T-Rex eggs, and that started chaos, then, a whole new adventure.

"Marcus! What're you waiting for? We're going on our first flight!" Melissa shouted excitedly, waving her right hand and her left on Artemisia's back, which a saddle had been placed. Marcus grunted, "It doesn't seem safe.", Melissa rolled her eyes and socked him in the shoulder

"Oh come on! You worry about _everything_! Quit complaining for just ten minutes and you don't ever have to do it if you don't want to!" Marcus took this into consideration, and he finally agreed,

"Oh all right…but don't do any wild tricks." He said, waving his finger in Artemisia's face, she rolled her eyes and shook her head, then allowed the kids to hop and she took off.

Feeling the wind in her face was something out of a dream. Melissa was enjoying herself entirely, and so far the ride was going smoothly…after a few minutes, even Marcus was enjoying himself. As they both looked down, their breath was taken away as they saw the beautiful landscape below,

"Whoa…it feels great to see the world from a dragons-eye-view!" Artemisia smiled and dipped to the right, making Melissa whoop again with joy.

After thirty minutes, Melissa saw Manny, Elli, Crash, Eddie and Diego huddled together, along with all the other animals and found out why.

A T-Rex was standing right in front of them. Melissa's eye's widened, and they stealthily, and snuck over to the group. When Manny saw them, Melissa carefully loaded her bow

"Uh…Dad? What in the world is going on?" She whispered, he shushed her, and hoarsely whispered to everyone else

"Nobody…move…a…muscle." Of course, it took just one animal who screamed, making chaos erupt again and, then, Sid and the dinosaurs disappeared…

"Oh no…"

"Oh…man…"

"**Ah geez…**" The trio gasped as the terrifying monster disappeared under the ice, and then Ellie went foreword to where it vanished…

As they stepped into a bright light, Melissa squinted her eyes and gasped in amazement at what she saw

"Oh wow…this is one of the most amazing things I have _ever_ seen in my life…" Her friends nodded, with their mouths wide in shock, the group began to talk when an Ankylosaurus crept up and caused the herd to slide down the back of gigantic dinosaur, only for them to be ambushed by more, until, yellow smoke filled the air, when it cleared, the oversized reptiles were gone and they realized they had been saved by a crazed one-eyed weasel

"The names Buck, short for Buckminster, long for Buh…" Artemisia raised an eyebrow and whispered

"**I don't know if this 'Buck' fellow is more insane than Sid.**" Melissa nodded, then Buck began to check out the herd, especially the young trio, indicating that he had never seen humans or a dragon before down here.

* * *

As the herd and Buck made their journey to find and rescue Sid, everyone knew that Buck got even crazier on every step of the trip. That is, the crazy pit reached the limit when Ellie went into labor on the Plates of Whoa. Causing the herd to be separated, one by one, Marcus and Artemisia offered to go with Buck and the possums, while Melissa helped Manny fight off Guanlong who were going after Ellie while Diego headed up to help her, and Melissa wondered what on earth he was going to do to help her, but now, two lives were in danger.

"WWWHHHOOOAAA!" Marcus screamed as Artemisia took a sharp dive down to follow Buck and the possums as they used a Pteranodon. As they flew, Marcus called

"Buck! This may your craziest idea yet! I don't think I'll come out aaaallllliiivvvveeee!" Marcus screamed as Quetzalcoatlus came flying after them, and Artemisia becoming useful as she used her plasma shots to fend some off, but then, one grabbed her tail, until she hit it-_hard_- on a nearby rock wall.

Melissa was running low on arrows as she shot at as many Guanlong as she could, Manny wasn't doing a bad job either, even though a few got past them, but Diego flung them off.

After rescuing Sid, the herd reunited and Peaches was born, of course Melissa was overjoyed o having a sister, and now, with the baby in tow, the herd headed back but were held back again as they finally saw Rudy, from the story that Buck told them a while before, and the girls stayed behind to protect the mother and daughter, and Melissa gave Marcus her bow and arrows and said

"Come back alive." She socked him in the arm before he headed off with the other guys.

Finally, after the battle, everyone thought Rudy was gone, but a distant roar caught them, but Manny moved them on and Buck decided to stay behind.

But now, it was a fresh start to Manny's life, and now, more adventures awaited the young trio…perhaps some new friends…

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**It took me awhile to figure out what I wanted for the story, so I hope ya'll like this chapter, chapter five should be up in a week or so. But if any of you have any ideas, review them, I always enjoy reading them! ;)**


	5. Chapter 5

The Other Child Chapter 5: Snowballs and Stories

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**Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't updated in a while! But because schools out now, I will have more time to write! Here's chapter five!**

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"Gah! Peaches! Not fair!" A young mammoth laughed at her sister

"It was SO fair!" She ran off laughing, dodging snowballs being thrown at her. The girl chasing her, was her half-older sister Melissa, now fifteen years old, Melissa laughed as a snowball narrowly missed the top of her head, grinning, she fired a snowball into the face of her boyfriend Marcus, he shook his head and began to wipe the snow off his face

"Hey! What was that for?!" He cried throwing snowballs right back at her

"Watch out kids!' A voice with a lisp called, it was Sid, Melissa's uncle, he threw a snowball that landed on a rock behind her.

Manny and Ellie watched as the four had their snowball fight, and Manny and Elli were proud of their two girls. Peaches looked up to Melissa like a role model, like any other sibling, Peaches, who was only five, was strong for her age and could easily hurt her sister if she wasn't careful, but because they were siblings, they knew better, finally, Manny couldn't resist

"Heads up kids!" He called, the two teenagers dove out of the way as a huge snowball landed right on Sid (like in the first Ice Age), and that made the others crack up.

* * *

Later that day, as the sun began to set, Melissa, Marcus, Peaches and Sid warmed up by the fire and Diego looked at his two nieces, remembering how he watched his own siblings do the same thing. Crash and Eddie whooped like madmen and started firing spitballs at him, over the years, Diego learned to control himself and not go after the two possum twins when they did this sort of thing, watching, Melissa began to giggle, even though she was a teenager, she still had her childish side and had a great sense of humor, Manny guessed that probably came from someone in her real family, but the herd STILL hadn't found them, he wondered if they were looking for their daughter, and if they were, shouldn't they have found them by now?

As Manny thought about this, Marcus began telling them about his life in the modern world and what his family did before his father died, the stories fascinated the twins and Peaches, even Sid, who had already heard these five times before, but nobody minded, finally, Melissa asked Marcus to tell about his brother and sister, Marcus smiled, as if it was an extremely pleasant memory

"Well, they are quite rambunctious, Shane is the craziest, he has this obsession to find a snake and play a prank on Scarlet, especially when she was little, around five or six, Scarlet is pretty quiet on the other hand, she loves to read and do the stuff girls do, when I went to visit them a month ago, they had grown up so much, even though Shane still loves to play pranks on the girls at school, I actually find some of them amusing, but Scarlet is still quiet and often keeps to herself…"

The herd listened with interest as Marcus talked about his family and some of his guy friends, one story, the entire herd broke out in laughter when Marcus talked about that Shane did one of the scary maze pranks and scared the heck out of Scarlet, just thinking about the look on her face made everyone laugh.

While Marcus chatted, Crash and Eddie sneaked off to get some more snowballs when nobody was looking.

When the had about six, they started their ambush

"AHHHH! Crash! Eddie! No fair! We weren't ready." Crash and Eddie just laughed and chanted like madmen, being the insane brothers like they were, starting the last snowball fight of the day, but Melissa had a trick up her sleeve. She loaded her bow and aimed at a snowball heading for Marcus

"Marcus! Hit the ground!" She called, Marcus duck and the arrow split the snowball to pieces and the broken snow fell softly around Marcus, when he looked up, Melissa looked proud of herself

"Guess all those years of training really did pay off!" Melissa laughed, before letting loose another arrow into a tree and taking the branch right off. And that, was a really good day for the two teenagers, and a day of fun for Peaches

"Glad Artemisia's also having fun with her kids." Melissa said to herself, remembering the first time she met Artemisia's daughter Serena, now, the young Night Fury had a little brother, and that made Melissa wonder if she had any siblings.

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**THere's some more thoughts Manny had for Melissa's family! And now Melissa begins to wonder if she has any siblings! Next chapter coming soon!**


	6. Chapter 6

The Other Child Chapter 6: Surprise?

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Seven years have passed since Peaches was born, and Melissa had recently made a new friend, a young female Barn Owl named Gwen. She found her on the ground with a broken wing. After her wing healed, the owl revealed she was excellent at sending messages. Not long after making friends with her, Melissa and Marcus ran into (literally) an old friend of theirs, Ceta, the son of the chief from their area. Ever since Melissa turned fourteen, Ellie convinced Manny to let Melissa out, and that was how she met Ceta. He was three years older than her, and the trio, herself, Ceta and Marcus got along pretty well, even though Ceta struggled to win Melissa's affections. Which unfortunately for him, never worked, she only wanted to stay friends, which worked out between her and Marcus. And speaking of which, Melissa' eighteenth birthday was coming soon and Marcus wanted to do something extra special for her, something she would never forget.

One day, Marcus surprised Melissa by saying he was going out on a ride with Artemisia

"And I thought you were scared of flying." Melissa teased

"Haha very funny. We'll be back in a few days."

"A few days? Where are you going?"

"You'll see, but I need Gwen as well." Whatever Marcus was planning, it was confusing Melissa, _what in the world is he planning on doing? Hope he doesn't kill himself_. Ceta walked up and said

"Come on, he's not that crazy." Melissa rolled her eyes and turned to face him, Ceta said again, "Sure, we all know he can be frustratingly stupid at times, but that doesn't mean he can't do anything for the good. You've known him longer than I've known you." Melissa knew Ceta had a point, yes Marcus could be very frustratingly stupid sometimes, but he had a good heart and knew what was right for the ones he cared for. But whatever he was planning on doing, Melissa kept her fingers crossed he wouldn't get himself killed.

* * *

"Okay, we're almost there."

"_Where are we going Marcus?_" Gwen asked, getting a bit impatient

"Be patient Gwen, you'll see, what I'm doing for Melissa is something Manny has tried doing." After he said that, Artemisia came a to halt that nearly flung Marcus off the saddle

"**We're looking for her parents?! Marcus you loon! Manny has tried searching for them for eighteen years and he still hasn't had any luck! What makes **_**you**_** think **_**we**_** can?**" Marcus sighed

"Just move it, you'll see."

When the flight was over, Marcus saw what in his universe would be Mount McKinley, the highest peak on the North American continent. And just twenty miles away, was a village, and a rather grand one too. It was surrounded by beauty, since this would become Denali National Park. Marcus whispered the name low enough so that his two companions wouldn't hear. Artemisia landed and Marcus changed into some traditional looking clothes so the villagers wouldn't attack him.

With a bow and a sheath of arrows Ceta gave him, Marcus walked to the village when two men stopped him

"Who are you?"

"I'm Marcus. I need to speak with the Chief, I have some important news for him that he needs to know. So could you take me to him?"The two men glanced at each other but allowed Marcus to pass through and one took him to the Chief's home.

"Sir? There is someone who needs to see you with urgent news." This made the Chief a little confused

"Send him in." He was surprised when he saw Marcus, "And who might you be young man?"

"I'm Marcus sir."

"What news do you need to tell me." Before Marcus answered, he saw the Chief's wife and tow children, who looked to be fraternal twins, about the age of 24

"I need to ask you a couple of questions."

"Alright, fire away."

"First off, do you have any more children?"

"Well, we did seventeen, almost eighteen years ago, my wife Heather gave birth to a baby girl, but when our daughter was just a week old, there was an earthquake, and Heather was separated from her."

"What was her name?"

"Klaie. Pronounced Klay-ee."

"What about your son and daughter?"

"My daughter Alaska, and my son Dakota. They were four years old when their sister was born."

All of this made Marcus think

_Let's see, Manny said he found Melissa at a week old not far from here, he found her in a place where multiple tree fell across from each other, same place where we landed, Melissa's seventeen, turning eighteen in three days…so…holy crud! I just found Melissa's family! Oh man! What is she gonna say now? She…oh crud, I gotta go find Artemisia and Gwen! Wait! Let me tell her family first!_

"Uh sir…?"

"Yes Marcus?"

"What ranking is your tribe?"

"This highest in all of Alaska. Any other questions?"

"Not really, but I do have one more thing to say."

"And what's that?"

"I…your…your youngest daughter is alive." Heather gasped

"You know her?" Marcus almost laughed

"Know her? I've been her closest friend since we were toddlers! Of course I know her! She's turning eighteen in three days!"

"Does she still have her first name?"

"In a way, she was adopted and given the name Melissa, she has a half-sister too." Heather looked overjoyed, finally, after almost eighteen years of thinking she was dead. Their baby girl was alive!  
"Thank you so much!" Heather said, hugging him, then she asked him, "What about your family?"

"Uh…well, my father was killed when I was younger, and I have one brother and one sister." Alaska spoke up, "Well, thanks so much for the great news. Dakota! We finally get to meet our sister for real!"

"You're very welcome. I'm glad you're so happy, would you like me to bring her here? Or should we meet farther north?"

"Farther north. So we can meet her adopted family and thank them for keeping her alive for all these years."

"By the way, may I know your name sir?"

"Jared."

"Jared, well, I'll go find your daughter and boy, will this be the best birthday present, more specifically, her 18th birthday! Really, I can't thank you guys enough, this will mean a lot to her and I know you guys as well."

"There's one more thing about her."

"What's that?"

"She's next in line to be the next leader."

"What?!"

"Yes, she's betrothed already. I'm glad you know her, she needs to meet him soon, this has been a tradition for as far as the family history goes, she needs to be marries before her 22nd birthday."

"Don't you think that's a _little_ too soon? She needs some time to get to know you guys and get used to her real home again, don't rush her too soon, she get's stressed really easily."

"Alright, we'll keep that in mind."

"Thanks again, and bye!"

* * *

Marcus quickly thanked the Chief and ran to find Artemisia, when he found her, she had just finished eating when she saw him.  
"**Marcus! There you are! What did you find!?**"

"Well, Melissa's real name is Klaie, her father has the highest ranking of all the tribes in Alaska, and I...I just found out she's betrothed, to someone she doesn't even know."

"**You have a crush on Melissa don't you?**"

"Yeah." Artemisia reassure him it would be alright, but that they needed to find her and get her home.

* * *

**Don't you just love it when Melissa teases Marcus? And at last! We finally get to meet Melissa's real family! And as for Alaska's name, I couldn't really think up another good name for her, and as for Melissa's real name, it was actually just a misspelling of another name I had. Anyways, here a joyous chapter!**


	7. Chapter 7

The Other Child Chapter 7: I'm Going To Miss You Guys

* * *

Artemisia looked up at Marcus from the corner of her eye, he looked depressed, it was hard for him, the girl he had a crush on was betrothed to someone she didn't even know! This wasn't fair! How was he going to tell her? Well, he should probably break the good news first and break the bad news after, but if he did…well, it'd bring her hopes down

"Artemisia? What should I do?"

"**Just tell her? Sometimes the right path is the hardest one.**" (From Pocahontas)

"But Artemisia I…I don't know how to tell her."

"**Just tell her everything, she listens to you.**"

"But what about Manny? And the rest of the herd?"

"**I'll talk to them. We'll work it out. But we have to trust each other. This is not just important for her family, but this is also important for her, too.**" The valley came into view

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

The first person to greet Marcus was Melissa. Marcus sighed and hugged Melissa back and Ceta just grinned at him, Marcus had a feeling he was hiding something from his friends. Melissa pulled him out of his thoughts and asked

"Wanna do some archery?" Marcus shook his head

"No, Artemisia and I had some _very _important news you need to know, it has something to do with your birthday."

"Like what?"

"I'll tell you all tonight."

* * *

That evening, the herd gathered around the fire, while the twins messed with Ceta, Melissa asked, laying on her back, supporting herself with her elbows, twirling an arrow with her fingers

"So, what's the news that's so important? And what does it have to do with my birthday?" Marcus took a deep breath

"Well, Artemisia, Gwen and I, we went south and we…we found your real family." This made everyone around them stop what they were doing, and everyone gave him a blank stare

"You what?!"

"It's true, I know who your real family is, I met your mother father, older brother and sister."

"I have a brother and sister?!"

"Yeah. And what's greater than that is that your birth tribe has the highest ranking in Alaska."

"You…how…what?!"

"I had a talk with your father, Jared, your real name is Klaie, your next in line, and the more greater news…is that…your betrothed." Melissa's eyes widened, her jaw dropped and her hands flung up to her mouth

"My…father…told you all of this?"

"He did." Manny looked at him, he didn't attack him surprisingly, Peaches walked up to her sister and hugged her

"Looks like ya got a bigger birthday present than ya expected?" Melissa just nodded and slumped down onto a log and rested her head into her hands

"This is more than I expected. When do I meet them?"

"We'll leave first thing tomorrow morning, and Ceta, you need to go home." Ceta didn't argue and took off. Marcus hugged Melissa tight.

* * *

The next morning, the herd headed south. The trip wasn't as tiring as when the flood happened 11 years ago. That was still a memory Melissa disliked. During the trip, Melissa felt a lot of mixed emotions, excitement, happiness, disappointment, frustration, anger. She was lost, but very relieved to know that she'd meet her real parents for the first time. During the trip, Manny kept her comforted, telling her that he was proud of her and everything she had done for her family, and some sacrifices she had made.

When the arrived it was a combination of a valley and mountains. Melissa sat down and was about to talk to Marcus when Gwen said

"_Look._" Everyone turned around and multiple figures appeared form the mist. Melissa stood up and walked towards them. She pulled her hood down and looked right into the face of a middle-aged man. He looked right at her and he said

"Klaie?" Melissa gasped with joy and hugged him

"Father!" Tears of pure joy streamed down her face. Then Heather walked up

"Mother! I can't believe this!"

"Neither can we, for eighteen years we thought you were dead. The last time we saw you, you were just a newborn. Now look at you! All grown up and…oh! I'm just so happy to see you for real!"

"And so are we." Melissa turned, and saw Alaska and Dakota, her mother introduced them

"These are your brother and sister, this is Alaska and this is Dakota." Melissa laughed excitedly and hugged them both. Then she turned around and looked at Marcus, then much to his surprise, she hugged him

"Thank you. Thank you for everything we did together. I'm so happy I met you." And the bigger surprise, was that she _kissed_ him on the cheek. When she released the hug, she socked him lightly in the arm, and said her goodbyes to the rest of the herd. Sid was the most emotional, he wiped a tear away and sniffledas he whispered in her ear

"Glad I met you." Melissa laughed and said

"Hey, I'll come back and visit, I promise." Manny said to her, pulling her into a long hug

"As am I. I'm going to miss you a whole bunch." Ellie, Peaches, Diego and Crash and Eddie said their goodbyes. But the hardest goodbye was with Marcus, was probably the longest one.

After her goodbyes, Melissa disappeared into the mist along with the rest of her family.

* * *

**I wanted to make the reunion scene a bit more emotional, especially between Marcus and Melissa, since we know his feelings for her, but I couldn't find a good way. Anyways, here's the 7th chapter!**


	8. Chapter 8

The Other Child Chapter 8: HIM?!

* * *

Life hadn't been easy for the herd since Melissa left. It had been harder for Manny, the little girl he had loved was back with her real family. He stared at a pond and sighed, meanwhile, Marcus sat on a branch in a pine tree and twirled a twig in his fingers, Gwen was gone keeping watch over Melissa, and he was waiting for her to come back with news. The Northern Light appeared overhead. They reflected off the dogtag necklace that used to belong to his father before he died, he dropped the twig and looked at the dogtag, two people he loved and knew so well were gone, he was thankful Melissa wasn't dead, but she wasn't here, and that made him feel empty. A screech interrupted his thoughts and Gwen appeared

"There ya are. How's she doing?" Gwen shrugged

"_I've got some good news and bad news._"

"As always, good news first." Gwen took a deep breath

"_Okay, the good news, is that Melissa's doing just fine and she appears to be getting along with everyone in the tribe. And the bad news…I overheard Melissa's parents talking about her betrothal…and you will not believe who it is._"

"Who?"

"_Ceta._" Gwen caught Marcus just in time before he fell out of the tree

"HIM?!" Crash exclaimed

"Yep."

"Man, I feel bad for Melissa, we never liked him."

"Believe me, I know, I wonder how Melissa' gonna react to this."

* * *

"HIM?! Of all people I know, It has to be HIM?!" Melissa cried, she may have been friends with Ceta, but she _never_ liked him

"Klaie, I do not understand why you are acting this way. Your wedding will only be in a few days." Melissa groaned, she looked at the wooden medallion Marcus had given to her on her 11th birthday, it held a strong bond between the two

"I can't marry him! I want my own freedom. I'll never be able to do archery, or go flying, or hang out with Marcus. That's what my life has been surrounded by! And my name is Melissa!" In fury, Melissa ran out of the hut and grabbed her bow and arrows and fled to the woods.

"Klaie! Get back here!"

It didn't matter to Melissa whether she wanted freedom or not, she wanted to be with the ones she loved, and besides, she had started growing some feelings towards Marcus anyways, she would much rather be with him than Ceta.

Meanwhile, as she ran, Ceta hid in the shadows, following her, but he could not keep up with her. Everntually, Melissa stopped at a ridge and sat down , resting her head in her hands and sighed in frustration, all she wanted when she came back to her real family was to get to know each other and spend time together as a family, not be told that you are betrothed to a friend you realized you don't like! Melissa was enraged, she would do anything to be with Marcus, suddenly, the Northern Lights appeared and wind blew around Melissa,

"Huh?" She stood and followed the trail of wind that led her to a cave, she looked inside, but at first, she couldn't see anything, but then, a light filled the room and all sorts of strange assortments could be seen, bowls, pots, animal skins, herbs, who lived here?

Her question was answered when an old, but gentle voice said

"Come in child." Melissa followed and sat down

"Who are you."

"I can help you with your problems."

"Well…uh…I found out that the person I'm betrothed to is a friend of mine, and well, I don't consider him a friend anymore."

"Why not?"

"I feel more connected to another friend of mine, someone I'm much closer to."

"The person who gave you this?" The fire grew and a picture of the wooden medallion appeared

"Marcus."

"The modern boy? You feel more connected to him?"

"Yes, we've been friends for as long as I can remember, he's my best friend and I can trust him, but at the same time, I have to keep my mother happy and go with tradition."

"Hmm, well, that means you might have to get rid of the medallion, give it to the Spirits."

It was a long conversation, but Melissa agreed, but telling Marcus to get rid of the medallion he had given her wasn't going to be easy, he had made that himself.

Convincing her parents to let her go back was surprisingly easy, Artemisia picked Melissa up and they headed back up north. When Marcus saw her, he hugged her tight

"I missed you."

"Me too. Marcus, we really gotta talk."

"Um, okay."

Melissa took him to a cave where they had privacy and Melissa took off the medallion she had

"Why are you taking it off?"

"-sigh- Marcus, I visited a shaman and she told me that if I want to continue tradition and keep my parents happy about the marriage, we have to get rid of this medallion."

"Wha? What? Why?"

"This medallion holds our friendship strong, if we get rid of it, then…I'll be able to marry Ceta."

"Let me guess, you found out who it was too didn't you?"

"Yeah, few days ago, I wasn't happy about it. But anyway, I'm really sorry, but we can still be friends, I promise."

They hugged and Melissa went back home. Doing this trip wasn't going to be easy, but it would be worth it, but secretly, in both their hearts, they wanted to be together, and they would do anything to keep it that way.

* * *

**Well that's a somehwat intense chapter isn't it? Both Melissa and Marcus are not happy when they find out who Melissa' betrothed to! Find out what happens in the next chapter!**


	9. Chapter 9

The Other Child Chapter 9: Some Have Other Idea's

* * *

Some time after visiting the shaman, the wedding was fast approaching, even though Melissa pretended to be happy about the marriage, her older and already married sister Alaska knew that her baby sister really wasn't, but she couldn't talk to her. Alaska watched her sister looked at the wooden medallion given to her from that boy. She sighed and went back to her own hut, where her husband and two sons were waiting for her

"Alaska? What is the matter?" Her husband, Juran asked her

"It's my sister's wedding, I have a feeling that she is in love with someone else. Someone she can't marry."

"And who might that be mama?" Her youngest son Forrest asked

"A close friend of hers."

Before they knew it, the wedding finally arrived. Both tribes came, and with Ceta waiting, Melissa put on the wedding gown her mother wore, it was a very beautiful dress and her mother was hoping for her daughter to save it for her own daughters when she had children.

After putting on the dress, her father came to take her to Ceta

"Are you ready Klaie?" Melissa took a deep, unsure breath

"Ready as I'll ever be." As she said this, her father had a sense that Ceta was not the one she loved, or the one she wanted to marry either. Father and daughter walked down and Melissa looked ahead to Ceta, she tried to put on the happiest smile possible, and it seemed to convince both tribes, except for Melissa's father, brother and sister.

Melissa reached out to take Ceta's hand, when a loud boom of thunder interrupted them, they looked south, and huge thunder clouds rolled in, lightning struck a rock, it fell to the ground, and the ice split Ceta and Melissa apart from each other (like in Brother Bear 2) and Melissa fell to the ground. Villagers from both sides gasped and Alaska knew it was true, she shouted it out loud

"Clearly the Spirits know that these two are not meant for each other!" Her mother gasped

"Alaska! Please!" Dakota reached out as well

"Mother, don't you see? Melissa and Ceta may be friends, but maybe, there's someone else better for her!" Melissa could not believe it, the Spirits approved of her to marry Marcus? Melissa stood up with a huge smile on her face, she looked at the medallion as she pulled it out from underneath her dress, she whispered, but liud enough everyone to hear

"_I always knew we were meant for each other._" Unfortunately for the young bride, her mother was having a hard time believing this. Her mother was furious with the arrangements.

* * *

That night, when her children and husband were asleep, she went to go visit the tribal shaman to see what he thought

"Ah! Heather!" He greeted, rather loudly

"Rosher! Shh! The village is sleeping!"

"Sorry Heather, now, what is it you want to talk to me about?"

"My daughter's wedding ceremony earlier today, you don't really think…"

"Oh indeed I do. They were never meant."

"Then _who_?" To answer her question, the old man tossed some powder into the fire and the fire grew, he said something in the native language and an image appeared, it was Marcus, for the first time, Heather got a better look at the young man, he appeared to be holding something, though he had a different skin tone, and different clothing and seemed to be a year older, he did look like he was better suited for her, Heather heard him say

"You know Artemisia, sometimes I wonder what Melissa's thinking, I wonder how she feels for me. After all, she did give me this after Peaches was born."

"**I know, ever since I met you two when you guys were kids, I always knew you be married to each other one day.**"

"If only my father were still alive, he would know what to do." This statement confused Heather

"What happened to his father?"

"Murdered when he was young boy. After his father's death, your daughter kept him comforted even to this day, and the name Peaches, is the name of a young mammoth your daughter considers as a sister, and based on how she cared for both Marcus and her half-sister, I'd think-" Heather cut him off

"I was all wrong about this. What was I thinking? Rosher? What should I do?"

"Ask your daughter for forgiveness first, then tell her what I told you, that she and the boy are allowed to marry."

"Thank you Rosher, I greatly appreciate it."

* * *

The next morning, Heather pulled her daughter aside and said

"I spoke to the shaman last night and…" She trailed off, and Melissa looked up to her, "You and Marcus, with permission from me, are allowed to marry." Melissa looked like she had been given a life-long punishment

"You…but…Ceta, what about him?"

"His parents, and with the help of your father and I, will find someone else for him to marry, in the meantime, bring Marcus and some of your family." For the second time since they met for real, Melissa hugged her mother

"Thank you." Melissa whispered.

* * *

The next day, Melissa sent the Great Spirits with a message form her to be sent to Marcus and the others.

Marcus looked up as the Great Spirits shimmered overhead, the others were by his side, and the next thing that he heard, was like he was watching his own father come back from the dead

"_Marcus, I'm calling you from my home, and I have great news, my wedding with Ceta is no longer happening, with permission from my mother…we're…allowed to marry_." Marcus' jaw dropped. He turned to Artemisia and pulled up the hood on his blue hoodie

"Come on Artemisia! Let's go find her!" Artemisia roared and shot into the air.

Manny and the others, just Melissa's family and some of the animals who were close to Melissa came

"I can't believe that this is actually happening! Our little girl is all grown up!" Sid cried, tears rolling down his cheeks

"Right age, too." Ellie added, "Just 21 years old. Almost too perfect. But I guess Melissa will explain what exactly happened."

"Right."

Melissa stood up when she saw Artemisia's black figure appear, Manny and the others approached from the shadows and Marcus leapt off Artemisia's back and he and Melissa hugged tight, Marcus whispered

"I missed you so much." Melissa replied

"I missed you too." They pulled apart and Melissa introduced her nieces and nephews

"Nice to meet you guys."

"You too." Melissa smiled and said

"Pretty soon, they'll be calling you uncle Marcus."

"Same thing for my siblings too."

The next day, the wedding came. After sharing their vows, the Great Spirits exploded into color and shimmered above them and waved all over Alaska, telling every tribe, that their high chiefs daughter was finally married. A short tike after the wedding, Melissa was given the chance to choose which of her two older siblings would carry on the heritage, and of all the two, Melissa chose her brother

"You look like you can take care of a tribe, just like dad." With that, the family of five hugged, Melissa would never say goodbye forever, she would just be meeting Marcus' own family.

After the wedding, it seemed nothing could go wrong.

* * *

**This took four stinking pages to write! Anyway, Melissa and Marcus have finally been married and Heather's eyes have been opened, guess she knows that Marcus wasn't such a bad choice for Melissa after all. In the next few chapters, the family grows!**


	10. Chapter 10

The Other Child Chapter 10: The Other Side

* * *

It felt like years ago when she and Marcus got married, but it reality, it was only several months ago. Now, Melissa knew other things needed to be finished. And one of them was meeting her husbands family. She knew he always said that they were kind to friends of the family, but now, Melissa _was_ family. She was no longer a childhood friend from the past, she was Marcus' wife.

Melissa looked at the stone heart necklace that she had owned her whole life, did this thing hold some sort of power within it? Because it practically kept her alive during the time she spent away from her biological parents. She thought about her nieces and nephews, they all looked alike, and she wondered how her own children would look like someday, Marcus called her from her trance and said

"Now think to yourself. And when I tell you to open your eyes, open them, okay?"

"Okay." Melissa replied, and did what she was told.

* * *

It felt like hours when Marcus gave her the gentle command, but when she opened her eyes, it was like she was in another dimension. Marcus grinned at her

"Welcome to Tennessee Melissa." Melissa looked around her. She was amazed

"And you said all those years ago you would move away." Marcus shook his head

"That was before dad died, remember?" Melissa nodded

"Oh right!" Marcus brought her to a truck, she hopped in, a little uncomfortable due to the change of seating, but eventually got used to it. She fidgeted a little bit before leaning her head back and closing her eyes.

When she opened them, the sun had begun to set and a large house could be seen a short distance away. Marcus turned the vehicle and pulled up onto a long driveway and the car came to an abrupt stop

"We're here." He said to her. Melissa looked at him and opened the door, the feeling of a flat surface like ice was a little strange, as Marcus pulled a suitcase from the back Melissa looked at her surroundings, but refused to move away from Marcus' side. After a few minutes, they went inside the house. And the first thing Marcus was greeted by, was a flash of orange

"MARCUS!" When Melissa looked, she saw a young girl, no older than thirteen or fourteen hugging Marcus

"Yeah, hello back Scarlet, can you let me go now? We have a guest here."

"Sorry! But it's just been so long since you've been home! I was afraid you weren't gonna come back! And living with Shane is no picnic." Melissa chuckled, she was surprised at the amount of energy Marcus' sister had. Then a middle-aged woman appeared, she had brown hair and brown eyes, she had some age appearing about her face. With a motherly smile, she hugged Marcus

"I'm so glad you're home!" She cried

"I know mom, I know. Me too." Then a blonde boy at the age of sixteen thundered down the stairs, his hair was in all directions and Marcus hugged him as well. The whole time, Melissa smiled as she watched the small family reunion. Marcus finally snapped out of the family trance and said

"And guys! I want you to meet Melissa. She's my wife." Marcus's family stared at him

"You got married and we didn't even know it?" Scarlet exclaimed

"Scarlet? Cool it. She's family now, and I want you guys to treat her like it. Okay? Shane…? No pranking."

At took some time to talk to his family about the wedding, but Marcus' family didn't mind it at all, in fact, they were overjoyed with it

"I'm so proud of you! Your father would be too. If only he was here." Marcus pursed his lips

"I know, and I'm going to find the man who killed him. But I'm not going to go there yet."

* * *

**Well now, Melissa has finally met Marcus' family! And looks like Shane might have some trouble holding off on his pranks. Stay tuned for the next chapter!**


	11. Chapter 11

The Other Child Chapter 11: New Home

* * *

Being welcome into Marcus' family gave Melissa a much more welcoming feeling. She and Scarlet were getting along nicely, and as with Shane, he was having a hard time keeping himself out of trouble. Once, Melissa remarked

"For a sixteen-year-old boy, he sure acts life a five-year-old." Marcus laughed

"Yeah, he's always been the immature one." Marcus started taking Melissa into town to introduce her to some friends, friends he had before he met Melissa and when they were separated. The introduction seemed to go smoothly

"Melissa, these are a few friends of mine from years back, this is Alexander, or Alex for short, Madison, Katie, Ryan, Jake, and Jenny." Melissa smiled

"Nice to meet you all." Katie smiled and replied

"As to you. So we're you from?"

"Alaska."

"Yeah, we met back when we were very young, and we've been friends ever since, now we're officially together." The group knew what that meant

"Congrat's my friend! Knew it would come to ya! Too bad your dad isn't around to hear this good news."

"I'm sure he knows." The two of them continued to walk around town, Melissa knowing not to wander off like a four-year-old without a leash, but the place was so much more different than her world, this was the 21st century! And she thought she was going to be treated like a stranger, but these weren't the kind of people, instead, she was welcomed warmly by everyone, and it seemed like Marcus knew everyone in town as well.

That evening, Marcus found Melissa observing the stone necklace on the couch and sat by her

"Something wrong?"

"No, I just was amazed by your world, it's so much more different than mine, king of surprising that a guy like you from this time managed to survive my time!" Marcus chuckled and hugged her close

"Well, I wouldn't have survived if it hadn't been for you."

"I know. Everyone's been so welcoming." Marcus smiled at her

"Well, this town never treats a stranger unkindly, unless they have a bad feeling about them."

"Reasonable." Marcus kissed her cheek and went back into the kitchen while she stayed on the couch, looking at the necklace. This precious piece of jewelry had done so much for her, keeping her alive, finding her family, getting her friends, what more could she ask for?

A family.

A family of her own.

* * *

**Well, looks like there's going to be a new addition to the family soon huh? And this story is just a little more than halfway done, still several more chapters to go before the pirates come. Though I'm still thinking of what'll happen during that moment, anyway, hope you like this chapter!**


	12. Chapter 12

The Other Child Chapter 12: Danielle

* * *

Melissa' prayers for a family of her own came faster than she expected. Before she knew it, she realized she was pregnant, about a month and ½ in. When Melissa told Marcus he was going to be a father, he was speechless

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive. I'm late."

"Oh." It took a moment before Marcus clicked, but he then realized what she meant. She was pregnant with his child

"When did you find out?"

"About a day ago." Melissa replied, fiddling around with her necklace again. The announcement went better than planned, unlike most fathers, Marcus did blow his top, instead, he remained calm and he and Melissa talked, they knew, in a few months, a new arrival would come.

* * *

_8 ½ months later…_

Melissa cradled her newborn daughter in her arms, the newborn was small, slightly smaller than average, but she was perfectly healthy, she had big brown eyes just like her mother, and brown hair like her father, she did have quite the head of it too, all in all, she was a perfect little baby.

Scarlet got to hold her little niece, and gently bounced her lightly in her arms

"She looks just like you guys." She grinned, Shane got to hold her as well, ever since Melissa announced she was pregnant, Shane's childishness had faded away, but Melissa said he was going to need it when the baby got older, and speaking of which, they needed to name her

"What should we name her?" Marcus' mother spoke up, holding her granddaughter

"She looks a lot like my own mother actually."

"Danielle? That's perfect! What do you think?"

"I like it. Danielle it is!" Melissa looked at her daughter and kissed her on the forehead and hugged her close to her chest

"Welcome at last Danielle. Wait till everyone back home hears about this."

* * *

Melissa' friend, Gwen, had passed on the message to Melissa adoptive and biological family

"You're kidding me?!" Sid exclaimed

"Nope, I'm not." Gwen replied,

"Think I could babysit her when we get to see her?"

"If Melissa were here," Manny was saying, "She would probably say 'not a chance'."

"I can't wait to meet her! What's her name?"

"Danielle. After her great-grandmother from her father's side."

"Well, pass the news onto Heather, she really needs to know about this."

* * *

"She what?!" Heather exclaimed,

"It's true, a baby girl." Heather looked more than overjoyed, "Do you know what she looks like?"

"Brown eyes like her mother, and brown hair like her father." Heather looked overjoyed, Alaska and Dakota stepped out and asked

"What's all the excitement about?"

"Your sister just had her first baby!"

"Really? What gender?"

"Girl. Her name is Danielle, after her great-grandmother from her father's side."

"This is wonderful! I can't imagine how happy the both of them must be!"

"This coming from the woman denying her own daughter the one she loved." Alaska teased, her mother just rolled her eyes and ignored the remark, she was glad she had let her daughter make her decision, now, she had a real family to care for.

* * *

**At last! Finally! Melissa's wish has come true! Now she has her own baby girl, named Danielle to look after, I originally was planning her name to be Alyssa, but I changed my mind and this came out! I'll make a drawing of Danielle for my DeviantART page soon!**


	13. Chapter 13

The Other Child Chapter 13: I Only Hear So Much

* * *

Aboard an iceberg lanced with tree trunks roped with vines and hollow logs shooting out of the side, a young white, gray, and black saber looked out to sea. This saber was Shira, a young saber who had gotten separated from her pack and hadn't seen them since. She had been swept out on an ice flow and was rescued by an odd assortment of animals, an elephant seal, a rabbit, a kangaroo, a bird of some sort, and a strange pig thing with horns sticking out of it's snout. And their leader, an ape-like creature, known as Gutt; Captain Gutt. Within the first week of her rescue, Shira was made first mate, disappointing the rabbit, know as Squint. Whatever the reason of his name, Shira never figured out.

The kangaroo, Raz, had become a sort of motherly figure and was explaining things abroad the pirate ship.

Shira had only been living on this ship for a little over five years and things were going just fine, once, when a flock of seabirds flew overhead, they flew close enough to her that she could hear part of their conversation

"So this mammoth rescues this human baby and raises it as his own!" One of gulls, named Marshall exclaimed to his friend, in reply, they continued the chat

"And rumor has it that the kid has a kid of her own!" Finally, Shira couldn't help but ask them whom they were talking about

"Hey! You two!" The two gulls turned around and were a bit frightened at first, but were relived that she didn't want to eat, only know what their conversation was about

"We heard this story from the mainland that a mammoth rescued this human baby and for 18 years, raised it as his own! She now has a kid now!"

"What's her name?"

"Didn't catch that part. Sorry. Nice talkin' to ya Shira!" The two gulls flew away and Shira was left wondering why on earth a prey animal would take in the young of it's predator, whatever the reasons, Shira didn't realize she would figure that out in a few years.

"Well, I can only hear so much." She muttered to herself, before going back to her job. As she walked back to the center of the deck, Gutt had called the crew to tell them that they had to steer away from the mainland. As much as Shira knew not to question the captain, she was very confused to why they were steering away

"Captain? Why should we stay away from the mainland? We probably have enemies there we could take down!"

"No Shira," Gutt purred, taking her face into his enormous hand and glaring at her, his yellow teeth forming a horrid grin, "That would be bad, we may be tough, but it would be wiser to stay at sea where we can take down our enemies ships. Better advantage. Understood?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. Continue your chores!" Shira was still confused, just by the tone of his voice, she knew he was hiding something, everyone on the ship knew about humans. How they made these deadly weapons with the simplest materials. Stone, wood, shell, basic natural stuff. Maybe Gutt was afraid of facing humans? Because their stone weapons were stronger than their own weapons made of bone? Bone was strong, but it never lasted forever. Everyone knew that eventually, all their weapons would have to be replaced eventually.

Shira then figured out that Gutt was afraid of a race stronger than him and were smarter than they looked. He was afraid of a real challenge.

* * *

**So we finally see the pirates years prior before Manny, Sid, and Diego run into them, and it appears that Shira has finally heard about Melissa! Find out more in later chapters!**


	14. Chapter 14

The Other Child Chapter 14: Five Years Later

* * *

"Ha! Nice one Tyler!" A young girl, with a shock of long brown hair and bright brown eyes sat at a table with the table-top game, _Sorry!_, squealed with mockery in her voice, in front of her across the coffee table, sat a three-year-old boy with a shock of un-brushed brown hair and blue eyes, he crossed his arms in frustration, he whined

"Hey! Dannie! How come _you_ always win?" The girl in front of him, his older sister, Danielle, or Dannie for short, grinned and stood up, and proclaimed with a bow

"Because _I _am the master of _Sorry!_"

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, a woman and a man, the parents of these two children shook their heads as they listened to the argument in the living room, the woman, Melissa, was in her late twenties, she looked at her husband from her book had been reading, Marcus and asked while glancing at the two children from the corner of her eye

"Should I go and stop that argument before they fight?" Her husband, looked up from his laptop, in which he was doing some business on and replied

"Give them a few minutes, they should start to simmer down soon." Melissa gave a small chuckle as she turned her head to face her two kids.

Just three years ago, Melissa had discovered she was pregnant again, with Dannie's younger brother or sister. And just 9 months later, Melissa had given birth to a healthy baby boy she named Tyler. Tyler became the oddball of the family. Why? Because the rest of the family had brown eyes, whereas Tyler was born with blue eyes instead. Of course, all newborn babies are born with blue eyes and his parents thought the color would fade away, but it didn't after five months, the color had brightened up.

Now Dannie was five and a half years old and had often ruled over her brother. Her uncle Shane was now engaged to his girlfriend Anne, and their wedding would be next year, and Dannie hoped soon after that, she would get some cousins. The only problem was that nor Dannie nor Tyler had met their mother's side of the family yet. About a year before, when Marcus had talked to her about it, Melissa said she felt the kids weren't quite ready to make the journey to meet them and that she wanted to wait another three or four years before they could visit them.

For Melissa' adoptive family, her half-sister Peaches was now a tween, and for Melissa's biological family, her nieces and nephews were much older and eager to meet Dannie and Tyler.

Marcus's younger sister Scarlet was dating a young man nearly seven months younger than her named David. Like Shane and Anne, they seemed to be a perfect fit and everyone was eagerly awaiting for him to propose, thing was, Marcus, Shane, and Scarlet' father had died many years ago so David would have to go to Scarlet' mother instead. But it didn't matter anymore.

As Melissa snapped out her train of thoughts, she stood up and grabbed her daughter from behind, causing her to squeal out and laugh as her mother tickled her

"M-m-mommy! S-stop! T-t-that hahahahahaha! T-t-t-tickles!" Intrigued, Marcus stood up and did the same to Tyler, thank goodness it was late in the evening, the kids would have to go to bed soon anyway.

Once the tickling session was done, Melissa and Marcus took their two exhausted children up to their rooms and tucked them into bed.

Once they knew Dannie and Tyler were sound asleep, the young parents went downstairs and cuddled up on the couch. For almost six years, Melissa had been living in Tennessee with Marcus and his family and had been living a happy life, however, she did dearly miss her friends and family back home, she wanted to visit them so bad, but she didn't want to leave her kids behind, sure they could be taken care of by their grandmother, aunt and uncle, but Melissa had other feelings about that, she really trusted her mother, brother and sister-in-laws, but she had other ideas. Nobody understood her better than Marcus himself, heck, they had known each other since they were Tyler's age.

They would work all of this out in the morning. Both parents went to bed with happy, but tired smiles on their faces.

* * *

**Dannie and Tyler seem cute don't they? Stay tuned for the next chapter, keep in mind that I'll zip ahead about another three years before I go back to normal timing in the chapters, then we'll get some more excitement later on.**


	15. Chapter 15

The Other Child Chapter 15: Homebound? Part 1

* * *

Melissa watched as her kids playfully threw snowballs at each other, Dannie was now seven and Tyler was now five, it was Christmas Vacation for Dannie and she was taking as much time up to throw snowballs at her brother.

Watching her kids do that reminded her of when she and Marcus did the same thing. So many memories, in fact, Melissa had been talking to Marcus about taking the kids back to visit Melissa's sides of the family

"Are you sure?" Marcus had asked her

"Positive. I want Dannie and Tyler to get to know them while they're still young, it would be better for them." Marcus wrapped his arm around her shoulders as they watched their kids enjoy the snowball fight that Dannie's friends from school quickly joined.

Melissa had the kids sit on the living room couch in front of them, nervous as though they were in trouble, Tyler nervously asked

"A-are we in trouble?"  
"No Tyler, neither of you are in trouble. In fact, we've got some good news for you."

"Uncle Shane's getting married earlier?!" Dannie asked, everyone gave her a look of surprise

"No Dannie," Marcus said, hoisting his daughter on his lap, "No, in fact, for the remainder of Christmas vacation, we're going to visit you mother's side(s) of the family. You have cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents who are very eager to meet you."

"Oh."

"Hey, come on. You're going to love them."

Dannie had her doubts. _How come mom and dad never told Tyler and I about mom's side of the family? Did something really bad happen? Whatever, I don't know if I'll like meeting them at all!_

In fact, Tyler also had his doubts too, _Why weren't we told about this before? Well, at least we get to meet 'em while we're young. Maybe mommy and dad had their reasons for not telling us sooner. But, I'm looking foreword to meeting them! I hope I have fun cousins to meet!_

While Dannie had her doubts and suspicions, Tyler was really looking foreword to the trip. He didn't have cousins yet on his dad's side of the family, but on his mother's sides, she must have older siblings! He wondered what his cousins, aunt's, uncles and grandparents were like.

Melissa saw her kids reactions to the news, Dannie didn't look too happy about the plans, but Tyler looked like it was already Christmas Day

"So what do you say? Want to meet them?"

"YES!"

"Eh, couldn't kill me."

"You'll like them, I promise."

* * *

**Short chapter yes. But it looks like Dannie and Tyler are ready to meet their mother's side of the family. But why is Dannie so doubtful and suspicious? Well, maybe she'll lighten up when she meets Crash and Eddie. Stay tuned for part 2!**


	16. Chapter 16

The Other Child Chapter 16: Homebound? Part 2

* * *

"I'm going to complain for the rest of my life if this trip isn't fun." Dannie complained early one morning, the next day, she and her family would be taking a trip to visit her mother's family, and Dannie wasn't looking foreword to it, her father ruffled her hair and said

"Come on Dannie! I've known your mother's family since we were both very little. You'll like them very much. I promise."

"Your father's right Dannie. Trust me, my families are people who you will love for as long as you live. They don't believe in being cooped up inside all the time, they believe in having fun! Why do you doubt this trip so much?" Dannie turned away from her mom, pushing away her breakfast, ever since Melissa had moved here, she had adjusted like she had been living here her whole life and she proved to be an excellent cook, Dannie let out a small sigh, slid out of her chair, headed upstairs and the rest of the family heard a door slam, Tyler, still young, looked up from his own breakfast and asked

"Wait, families? You have two?"

"When I was still a baby, I was adopted, when I was eighteen, I met my biological family for the first time."

"Was daddy there too?"

"Of course he was."

"Did they like him?"

"Well, not at first, but they eventually learned to love him like family. But, it's not just having two families that is the big news. Your father and I have another surprise for you that we hope you and Dannie will like."

"I know I will!"

Dannie had crept back quietly back downstairs, and sat on the staircase, hugging her knees, her brown hair fell around her shoulders and she eavesdropped on the conversation, with pools of tears forming in her eyes. Why was she so upset? She was still young and didn't understand all of this, plus, she felt like her mother and father lied to her, which they never did, they had just been waiting for the right moment to tell them.

* * *

Bright and early the next morning, while the kids were still asleep, Marcus and Melissa, walked through the special portal they both learned how to operate and before they knew it, for Melissa, they were finally home. Melissa set Tyler down and Marcus sat with his kids and Melissa quickly hanged into the normal clothing she had worn here, then, after letting Marcus know of her plan, she walked off to find her family.

...

It wasn't long before she did. The first thing that greeted her was a pellet to the head

"Ow!" Then she realized it was her uncle Crash and Eddie, and sure enough, the two possums appeared and gave her a hug

"Man! Where've you been?"

"Yeah Melissa! It's been like a billion years since we last saw you!"

"Yeah, enough with the over exaggeration, it's only been a few years. By the way, how's everyone doing?"

"They're fine, they miss ya to death!"

"Well, let's go see them then!"

When the trio got back, the first thing she was greeted by was a large snowball to the head, and by instinct, she ducked, when she stood, she called out, in a teasing manner

"Hey! Watch it with the snowballs will ya! I'm not a little kid anymore-whoa!" Manny got to her first and nearly squeezed the air out of her, he never looked so happy, not this happy since Peaches was born, and good grief, he looked like he was about to cry, Ellie greeted her with a hug too, but not air-crushing, then Peaches hugged her back, Sid greeted her with hug as well, and he literally cried and Melissa couldn't help but give him a hug back, the sloth may have bad (_really _bad) hygiene, but he's got a good heart, then Diego, like before, a few years ago, once again, gave her a simple wave but she returned that wave with a tight hug

"I missed you all so much!"

"You look like you haven't changed much since we last saw you. But you look tired now."

"Well, I now know what parenting feels like." Everyone gave her shocked expressions

"Wait, wait, _parenting_? A-are you saying you…?" Manny asked, trying his hardest to contain his excitement

"Yep, two kids, seven and five. Girl and boy." Melissa replied, sound very proud of herself

"What are their names?" Ellie asked

"Danielle is my firstborn, my son Tyler is three years younger than her."

"Can we see them?" Ellie asked again

"Sure, hold on." Melissa rushed back to find her husband, son and daughter playing with snowballs and Melissa said privately to Marcus

"Come on, I found everyone, we can get to my other family in three days."

"Fine by me. C'mon you two. We're going to meet some family."

Once they got back to the herd, Dannie and Tyler were set down before everyone and Dannie asked

"Your adopted family, is in the _Ice Age?_"

"Yes, I'm not from the 21st century, I'm from this world. You see, I was natively born here, your father, grandmother and grandfather came here by accident many, many years ago, we were younger than you are now Tyler." Dannie was practically crushed

"Wait, so this whole time. You, you lied to us?"

"Sweetheart, we never lied to you, we just needed to wait for the perfect time to tell you."

After the whole thing was settled, Dannie relaxed and some tensions had also died down and Dannie seemed happier now that she's met her mother's adopted side of the family. Now was Melissa's biological family.

Just a few days later, after getting to know everyone, Melissa and Marcus finally decided it was time to meet the other family.

* * *

"Mom! Dad! Are you home?" Suddenly, an Alaskan Husky tackled her to the ground and started licking her like crazy

"Hahaha! Okay! Okay Cove! Easy boy!" The Husky settled down and then, Melissa was greeted by another air-crushing hug, when the person released, it was Melissa's nephew Kirga

"Kirga! Oh! I am so happy to see you again, the last time I saw you, you were only three!"

"I know aunt Klaie!"

"Shh. Know, can you take me home?" The young boy grabbed his aunts hand and led her into the village, where her sister, Alaska exclaimed

"Welcome home Melissa!" Melissa had always been close with Alaska, even though they were four years apart, they shared similar interests, and really looked out for each other, Melissa smiled and hugged her older sister back

"I missed you. By the way, I believe you remember Marcus?"

"Of course I do! Welcome back Marcus! So good to see you!" Marcus smiled and hugged his sister-in-law back

"You too Alaska, you too. And these two, are our son and daughter, Tyler and Danielle O'Reilly (Marcus's family is of Irish descent)."

"Is O'Reilly your last name?"

"Yes, anyway, Dannie, as we call here is seven, and Tyler is five."

"So good to meet you guys! Oh! You'll love meeting the rest of the family! They are so eager to meet you! Mom! Dad, guess who's home?"  
"Klaie!"

"Shh! Alaska! Don't say my real name right now!"

"Sorry." Melissa and her family were led by Alaska back into the village and were greeted with hugs, Melissa's mother and father were overjoyed to see her. For practically a whole week, it was a huge family reunion.

Melissa got to introduce her children to their grandparents, and finally, Dannie's mood had finally lit up and she and Tyler began to play with the other children, and Melissa and Marcus, gazing happily at their kids, watched by the firelight as the children played, now, the whole family had finally been completed.

But, nobody would be prepared for in the next few years, of what would happen next, and how it impacted Dannie and Tyler's lives forever.

* * *

**Okay! So looks like Dannie has finally relaxed and adjusted, even though she thought all of this was a big lie. but she seems really happy now. But now, for an important message:**

**A message from THE NIGHT RAGE and me...SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) is back, that is right people, the bill that is threatening to take away our freedoms on the internet and beyond is BACK, and not only is it back, but it is trying to be passed quietly so nobody notices, SOPA will guarantee that anybody who streams a video or Facebook, whether it be on youtube, a walkthrough for a video game, Tobias, Smosh, Epic Rap Battle History, or a kid singing a song that is 'copyrighted' they will be treated as a felon, that is right, a FELON, do you understand me? YOU will be treated like the highest form of criminal for uploading or post a video game walkthrough on youtube, for singing a song on karaoke, hell, you could be arrested and treated as a felon for posting a screenshot...  
Now, why am I telling you this? Because this is only just the beginning, how long until Fanfiction is being attacked, how long until a fanfiction writer is being carted off to a maximum state prison for writing a character from Naruto into their fanfic, or a character from Bleach, or a character fro Sekirei or Seikon no Qwaser, Highschool DxD, Trinity Blood, Witchblade, how long until THAT crap is happening? I assure you that if this passes, it will not be long, oh no, it will not be long at all, because once this passes, then ANYTHING goes, Fanfiction will be attacked for using canon characters in a fanon manner, authors will be arrested for writing a book whose main character has glasses, just like in another series, artists will be arrested and confined for using sapphire blue in the iris of one of their characters like another author. We CANNOT let this happen!  
Don't believe us? Look at the links below, remove the spaces, see for yourself, and please, PLEASE spread the word and fight this assault on our freedoms, because this isn't just going to affect americans, oh no, it will affect EVERYBODY across the globe!  
: / www . huffingtonpost 2013/08/07/unauthorized-streaming-felony_n_3720479 . html  
: / www . washingtonpost blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/08/05/sopa-died-in-2012-b ut-obama-administration-wants-to-revive-part-of-it /  
: / www . techdirt articles/20130805/12472124074/administration-cant- let-go-wants-to-bring-back-felony-streaming-provis ions-sopa . shtml  
and the video which caused us to find out about this horrible thing...remove the spaces, and spread the word...  
: / www . youtube watch?v=1fTt4K4Cae4  
POST THIS MESSAGE AS AN UPDATE TO EACH OF YOUR FICS! PM EVERY AUTHOR YOU'VE EVER TALKED TO AND TELL THEM THE MESSAGE! TELL ALL YOUR OFFLINE FRIENDS AND FB FRIENDS! SPREAD THE WORD FAR AND WIDE! IF THIS ACT PASS, THEN ALL HELL BREAK LOSE...**

* * *

**Good luck everyone, and to be continued, stay tuned for more chapters, you'll see what happens next, and I'll be adding some Disney movies into the story just to make it fun! Enjoy this chapter! Bu be careful online!**


	17. Chapter 17

The Other Child Chapter 17: Disney

* * *

Two years had passed since Dannie and Tyler met their mother's family, and over those two years, Dannie had grown quite close with them, considering just a while before meeting them, Dannie was really upset about it.

Today, Melissa was out with her own family for a couple of weeks, while she was gone, Dannie and Tyler would be in Marcus's care, and he had a very good idea to keep them calm; Disney.

Marcus had practically grown up with Disney (for the times when he wasn't in the Ice Age) since he was really little, Shane and Scarlet had done the same thing and Marcus wanted his kids to grow up the same way.

"Kids! Come on down please!"

"Coming daddy!" Dannie replied. Within three minutes, Marcus turned around as his kids thundered down the steps, it was the middle of winter once again and Christmas was nearing, of course, Melissa had promised she'd be home for Christmas as always,

"So dad? What's going on?"

"This." Marcus replied, tossing a DVD case to Tyler, and on the cover, was none other than Marcus's favorite Disney movie of all time, _The Lion King_. Tyler suddenly broke into a huge smile and exclaimed

"I saw part of this movie during Science class two weeks ago! But we only got to the _Hakuna Matata._ Now I can watch the whole movie this time!" Dannie looked confused

"Really? We never watched _The Lion King_ in Science class when I was your age. Maybe they changed something. Eh, whatever, what else ya got?" Marcus grinned,

"Come on, I have something to show you." Their father led them downstairs to the basement, and Marcus pulled out a large cardboard box, and whence opening it, it received gasps and 'wow's from Dannie and Tyler, because, in that cardboard box, was every single animated (including a few live-action) movie _Walt Disney Pictures_ ever created, from the_ Mickey Mouse _Cartoons ( I don't know if they are even on DVD) to the newest Disney movie _Wreck-It-Ralph_,

"Oh wow. How many exactly?"

"If you wanna know, you can count them for yourself. And, there's DreamWorks, too." Marcus began telling his kids how Disney started, all with simple cartoons about a mouse named Mickey and his companions on everyday adventures, then, eventually, in the early 1930's, _Disney _released it's first theatrical film, _Snow White and the Seven Dwarves._ Dannie and Tyler listened intently, but as Marcus reached _Brother Bear 1& 2_, he said that those two movies, including _Pocahontas_, were her three Disney favorites, because they involved native Americans,

"Whoa…" Both kids said together, then, Marcus said

"Well, enough chitchat, why don't we watch the movies instead. Okay?"

"Yes!" The trio raced upstairs with a few Disney movies they wanted to watch, of course, they started off with _Brother Bear_, _Brother Bear 2_, and _Pocahontas. _Then, Marcus remembered, another one of his favorite Disney/Pixar movies. _Brave_. Merida reminded him so much of Melissa when she was a teenager, feisty, strong, stubborn, may I add. But she was very caring and responsible when needed.

* * *

**I really wanted to make this chapter longer but I didn't know how to. Anyway, I promised _Disney _and here it is! Next chapter will involve the fourth installment of Ice Age (spoiler!)**


	18. Chapter 18

The Other Child Chapter 18: Continental Drift

* * *

It was regular day is Tennessee, in a 50-year-old farmhouse, Danielle O'Reilly was relaxing in her bedroom listening to _Gotta Find You_ by Joe Jonas while writing in her diary, daydreaming about a boy her age named Andrew from school, who she has a crush on, she was now 11 years old, and already had two cousins, twins, a boy and girl, Kathyrn, and Jackson, it was fair, and summer vacation had just started, her younger brother, Tyler, was 8.

Dannie was hoping for a relaxing vacation, and listening to _Camp Rock_, and the music from one of her favorite _Disney Channel _shows, _Phineas and Ferb, _really boosted her excitement for summer. Her dad had promised to take herself, Tyler and their mother to Yellowstone and Mt. Rushmore. Dannie had seen them on TV and on the computer, and had convinced her dad to take them there one day, and this summer, it was going to happen.

"And you're next to me…" Dannie sang out loud, she didn't even realized she had done so when her mother, Melissa, opened the door and asked

"Dannie?" Dannie paused the song and un-plugged the earbuds and asked

"Yes mom?"

"Just checking on you. You okay?"

"Yes, mom. I'm fine." Then, Melissa set her eyes on Dannie's diary, and Dannie shut it right away,

"I-it's nothing important. Just stuff happening at school." Dannie said quickly, locking the dairy and placing it in the bottom drawer of her nightstand, but Melissa wasn't fooled, she walked in and gently shut the door behind her and sat next to her

"Something's up Dannie, you know you can't hide anything from me." Dannie knew she was caught, but, unbeknownst to both of them, Tyler sat outside his sister's bedroom door and eavesdropped

"So, what's going on?"

"Oh, I'm, I have a crush on a boy at school named Andrew." Melissa nodded and gestured her to continue

"And, I almost embarrassed myself in front of him last week, and lets just say I've been having fantasies about him lately. I can't get him out of my head!" Melissa smiled, she knew about this, she would admit, she actually used to have fantasies about herself and Marcus when they were much younger

"What does he look like?" Dannie went under her bed and pulled out a yearbook, flipped through it, and pointed out a picture of a boy who was practically the male version of Dannie, he was rather cute,

"Andrew Henderson. Well now, this is actually a good thing Dannie. You see, lots of girls begin to have a stage like this at around your age, it's perfectly normal. I'll talk to you about some other things when you are a bit older. But in the meantime, don't worry about any of this, it's just a stage." Mother and daughter hugged and Melissa left the room, and just after Tyler left for his own room.

Melissa walked down the stairs and found her owl friend, Gwen.

"Well, hello Gwen! Long time no see huh? How's everyone doing?"

"Okay, but everyone wants you, Marcus and the kids to come and visit." Melissa looked at Marcus, who out it into though and replied

"Well, we can always go to Mt. Rushmore next year. Don't see why not."

"Okay then, we'll see you in two days or so, okay?"

"Okay! See ya!" The barn owl flew out the door and disappeared into the daylight, leaving Melissa looking at her husband with wonder

"What?"

"Are you sure about this?"

"Of course I am. It's not like Mt. Rushmore gonna collapse anytime soon, right? We can always go next year, besides, we've got two ½ months of summer."

"You have a point, okay, I'll go call the kids down and we'll get ready to go."

Before they knew it, they were back in the ice Age, and just like the last few times, Melissa got a pellet to the head once again

"Guys, please stop spitting those things, you're gonna poke somebody's eye out soon!" The possums ignored her and ran off, laughing like madmen, leaving Melissa shaking her head

"They'll learn eventually." Suddenly, Melissa said, "Everyone hit the ground!"

"Huh?" Dannie and Tyler said in sync, but then, their father pushed them down and a shower of pellets hit all four of them.

"CRASH! EDDIE!" Melissa shouted, then, Ellie appeared and gave both her brothers a very stern look, but once the possum twins ran off, Ellie gave Melissa loving, and tight hug

"You're home. And look at them! They've both grown!"

"Dannie's 11, Tyler's 8."

"Well how about that! Come one, I'm sure everyone's eager to see you four again."

Once they found the herd, they were greeted with happiness, Dannie and Tyler, especially happy to see their aunt Peaches again, who was now 18, Manny looked at Melissa, who was once again, wearing her traditional clothes, and since it was summer here, she wore thin light brown leggings, a tunic with darker brown skin sewn on the edges of the tunic, collarbone, and sleeves, and wore thin, but comfy boots, he gave her a hug, but not bone-crushing like the last few times

"Missed you!"

"Missed you too. Well, looks like this is going to be Dannie and Tyler's summer vacation for a few weeks." The two were struggling to pin Crash and Eddie to the ground and get rid of their pellet sticks, "We need to do something about those pellet sticks." Diego suddenly appeared and picked out a pellet from his ear and grumbled

"Ya think?"

After the quick, but happy family reunion, things really started to liven up, Peaches introduced Dannie and Tyler to Louis, a molehog,

"Hey guys! I want you to meet Louis! He's a molehog."

"Back home," Tyler began, "We call you guys hedgehogs instead." After he said that, Peaches, Louis and Dannie all gave him looks, and Dannie gave him a firm whack upside the head,

"Anyway, this is Louis. Louis, these are my nephew and niece I told you about before. This is Dannie, and this is Tyler." Dannie smiled and lay down on her stomach and held a hand out to him

"Hi Louis! Aww, look at your big eyes! You're so cute! It's really nice to meet you! I'm Danielle, but you can call me Dannie." Louis blushed instantly and Peaches whispered in Dannie's ear

"Be careful, he's shy, but sensitive." Dannie smiled

"Understood. Louis. This guy right here's my brother Tyler."

"Hi Louis. Nice to meet you. I'm Tyler, as you already know."

"Nice to meet you guys as well. Well, I'd better go soon."

"Bye Louis! Nice meeting you!"

"Well, I'd like to meet him myself." Later that evening, Dannie and Tyler told their parents about Louis, Peaches grinned

"Let me warn you, he's pretty shy." Melissa nodded, and like Dannie had said before

"Understood. Well, you kids better be getting to sleep." Everyone was happy that Melissa and her family had decided to come visit, then. Artemisia appeared, greeting Melissa by pinning her to the ground and licking her face happily.

Bright and early the next morning, Manny woke up to something loud

"Wha-What was that? Ellie? Did you hear that?"

"I heard it Manny, but whatever it is, it's miles away." Manny ignored her and went to the other side of the tree to check on Peaches

"Peaches? You alright?" Only to find that her branch was empty, "Where is she? No teenager is ever up _early_." Ellie chuckled

"Whoa, easy warden, she's not on lockdown." Manny looked at her, before turning to the pellet-spitting possums that were sound asleep, and whacked them until their tails were tied together, waking them instantly

"You two were supposed to be _responsible_ uncles!" Eddie and Crash looked at Manny and Crash exclaimed

"What! I didn't see Peaches sneak off maybe 15-20 minutes ago." Eddie added

"More than she went with Louis to the Falls." The sentence was finished with a little nervous laughter, Manny went off

"The Falls? Where the dilinquits go?" Ellie laughed

"Relax, it's just where the kids hang out-"

"No, it's _gateway_ hangout. First it's the Fall, then she piercing her trunk, then the next thing you know she's addicted to berries!"

"Hehehe, Manny, you are overreacting, she's not going to be your little girl forever."  
"I know, that's what worries me."

_**Meanwhile…**_

"Woohoo! Yeah! Wooo! Louis! Would get your head out of the ground for once and have a _little_ fun?" A dark brown dirt line in the ground appeared, stopped at a tree root, with a short 'Ow!' coming from the ground, and Louis's head popped up, rubbed the dirt off his head and said

"I'm a _molehog_, my head's _supposed _to be underground, and my idea of fun, isn't risking death so you can meet come cute mammoth." Peaches scoffed a bit and said

"Ethan isn't _cute._ He's _hot._" Louis sighed and rolled his eyes and Peaches hung upside down from her tail and added "Besides, you can't spend your whole life playing it safe." Then Manny appeared, not looking too happy,

"I know I would."  
"DAD! There is _no_ reason to be mad."  
"You know how I feel about you going to the Falls, especially alone." Louis spoke up

"*Clearing throat* Ah, she's, not alone, sir!"

"You don't count wiener." Ouch, that his the wrong chord, Louis didn't let it show, instead, he muttered

"Yes, there's my place. And I just won't say anything." Manny turned back to Peaches and said

"Come on young lady, we're going home where I can keep an eye on you." Manny walked off, and Peaches gave a sorry glance to Louis before following her father. Suddenly, the earth shook, Louis gasped and dug undergound.

_**Meanwhile…**_

Diego leapt from rock to rock and stopped at rock overlooking the snow-covered forested valley, and cocked his head in confusion as the earth shook again and a flock of birds flew out of the forest letting loose their cries, Diego chuckled and let out a deafning roar and the shaking stopped, and Diego called out

"Haha! Yeah, you don't scare me Mother Nature! There's nothing you can throw at me that I can't handle." Boy, he was in for a surprise, there was a faint cheering from behind him and suddenly, a huge log burst from the trees b behind him and smacked into him, leaving him to hold onto the front of the log and he heard someone say

"I think we're almost there!"

"We'd better be, I just lost the steering!" Diego was panicking and someone else, with an elderly tone asked

"Has anyone seen Precious? It's her feeding time!" A younger voice complained

"Mom! Granny's talking about her dead pet again!" Then, another voice, and a horrid smell called out

"Hey paws up everybody!" Then there were sounds of disgust

"Aww"

"Eww!"

"Aww paws down uncle Fungus that is _nasty_!" The younger voice cried out, sounding strange, he must've been holding his nose, then, the younger female voice cried out

"Be careful Melton, you're gonna hurt somebody!" And that somebody was Diego, who had managed to reveal himself, to the family of sloths, and the younger female cried out while smacking Diego's face

"Ahh! Bad kitty!" The young male cried out suddenly

"ROCK!"  
"AHHHHHH!" Diego shrieked as he went flying over the front and over the sloth family only to hit the smaller sloth tied to stick with vines and had her stuck to his back and ended up getting dragged behind the log and cried out

"AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" As he nearly snapped the vine a flew off a cliff, while the elderly sloth yelled

"WOOOO!" Then, he pulled himself onto the back of the log, only to see his two nieces and his oldest nieces daughter and son, with Manny just ahead, panicking, Diego grabbed a tree and held on, and a crowd of ice age animals ran off to the side as the log went hurtling towards Peaches and Melissa, thankfully, both ducked as the sloths went flying out of their log and Peaches pushed it down and turned to Mannym who had been knocked down by the sloths and peeled of the smelly one (who was worse than Sid) and said

"Manny! Are you okay?"

"Ugh. Get off…my face." And dropped him, just as Sid pushed through the crowd saying

"Uncle Fungus! Could that really be you!" He made his way and let out a happy gasp and called

"Mom! Dad! Marshall!"

"See? He still hugs _his _parents." Manny said to Peaches, who scoffed and rolled her eyes and everyone watched the family reunion, Melissa was rather surprised, so this, was her uncles family? How interesting.

"I never thought I'd see my little baby again! We've been searching _everywhere _for you!"

"Ya have?" Sid's mother nodded and Sid grasped the younger sloth and exclaimed

"I knew it! I knew that deep down I wasn't abandoned." The younger sloth, known as Marshall, shook his head and said

"Oh that's incorrect. We _totally _abandoned you." It didn't seem to affect Sid, but that really hit Melissa in the wrong chord, nobody ever says that to her family when she's around

"But," Si'd mother kicked away Marshall and continued, "We always missed you." As she hugged Sid, she smacked her mate and said

"RIGHT?" The older male said

"Huh? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, and we just knew, that Sid would want to see his poor old Granny, before…her time is up."

"I'll bury ya'll and dance on your grave."

"She's so frail."

"And she can't _wait _to spend time with you Sid."

"Yeah, oh, and uh, Granny? Granny?" Sid's Granny was torturing Marshall while he was torturing an ant hill, and she laughed

"Ahahahahahaha!"

"Granny?"

"Aw, I never get ta have any fun."

After a few more minutes, and while Sid was talking to his Granny, their family boarded their log and Manny exclaimed

"Wait! Where are you going? Sid'll be crushed!"

"Sorry big guy, things are breaking apart back home."

"And warn the community! Granny tends to wander!" Diego finished it all off by saying

"Well, that explains a lot about Sid."

"Mom! Dad! Ya have Granny's teeth? She can't find 'em!" Granny was trying to eat an apple and ended up covering it with saliva and held it up to Sid and said

"Hey! Can you chew this thing for me!"

"EW. Hey guys? Where is everybody?" Diego looked at Manny and told him

"I'll handle this. Sid?" Sid turned to face his friend, "Your family was wiped out by an asteroid. Sorry." Melissa looked very surprised, it wasn't like her uncle to say something like that, and Sid looked hurt

"What?"

"What Diego is _trying _to say is, they left. They only want to you to take care of Granny."

"Oh come on! What kind of sick family would-? That's just crazy! That's just…my family."

"Well, at least you still have Granny?"

"Yeah, wait, Granny?"

"Wow, for an old girl she moves fast." Melissa had walked off with her two kids so they wouldn't have to help, but Manny said

"Oh no, not so fast, you're helping us."

"Ugh, fine. But don't make me do anything stupid."

"Fine by me."

"GRANNY!"

"GRANNY!"  
"Here Granny, Granny, I have prunes, just the way you like 'em." And Sid spit out a pile of chewed up prunes and Manny and Diego turned away and Manny muttered

"Aw, I don't wanna see that." Seeing her uncle do that made Melissa feel like she did when she was pregnant with Dannie and Tyler

"Ah, geez, that isn't something I want to see again." Manny turned to his right and said

"Huh?" It was Peaches and Louis, headed to the Falls, again, "Oh no."

_**Meanwhile…**_

"What if your _dad_ finds out? I'm not as tough as I look!"

"Wait! Sh! Do you hear that?" Peaches rushed the edge of a huge cove in the center, where a bunch of young male mammoths were playing a game resembling the modern-day football, one certain mammoth spun the prehistoric turtle on his trunk and flipped it away and Peaches exclaimed

"Look! There's Ethan" She sounded really excited, suddenly a bunch of girl mammoths surrounded him and said  
"Yeah Ethan!"

"You go boy!" Suddenly, someone called out from a ledge in the coves walls and slid down the ice, attempting to fly over the boiling hot mud gysers, and just as he made it over, everyone flinched, and the deer landed, with burnt antlers, and went Ethan his a fist-pump with him, his antlers turned to dust.

Suddenly, Peaches slipped, slid down the ice, and crashed into Ethan, oops, bad move. Then, a bunch of the female mammoths started muttering a few things about her, and then, Manny appeared, and made a really bad impression with Peaches, on the other side, near the very top, Dannie hid within the bushes, just by watching this, she was going to make sure she didn't do anything like Peaches had done so far. And followed Manny and Peaches out of the Falls and heard them arguing

"Peaches! Come on! Lets talk about this!"

"How could you embarrass me in front of my friends!"  
"I'm just trying to protect you! That's what fathers do!" (I know that feeling all too well), Peaches turned around and said the most hurtful thing ever said to a father

"Well, I wish you weren't _my father._" Oooh, that struck the wrong chord, hard. Manny was shock and Peaches stalked off, furious, and Ellie said

"She's just upset Manny. Peaches, it's not the end of the world." Then, out of nowhere, the earth began to shake and Melissa rushed up next to Ellie, while Marcus held onto Dannie and Tyler, who began to panic a bit

"Uh, what was that?"

"I don't know, stay there, let me come to you." Just as Manny reached Ellie, the ice cracked again and the ice began to pull away

"AHHHHH!" Dannie and Tyler shrieked, and Dannie began to cry, Melissa was grabbed by Peaches who rushed to her mothers right and Ellie reached her trunk out for Manny, which he grabbed and both struggled to hold each other tight, then, they were pulled apart…

Melissa was shocked at what she was seeing, the ice couldn't have it's hold any longer and broke apart

"DAD! NO!" Melissa cried, Ellie and Peaches did the same, Dannie and even Tyler were sobbing, Dannie said

"W-w-why, did t-this h-have to h-happen?" Marcus already knew what was going on, but he didn't want to cause anymore fear. It would make things worse, hoping to keep her kids calm, Melissa and Marcus took their kids back away where they could calm them down.

As Melissa, Marcus, and their kids met up with Artemisia, everyone was panicking

"AHHHHHH!"

"Mom! What do we do!" Melissa said

"Stay here. I'll be right back." Melissa bolted off and whistled, Gwen appeared

"What is it! You gotta get out of here!"

"I know! I know! Just tell my family that we're okay, and that I don't want them to worry. Just don't tell them what's going on."

"Okay. But please, for the love of god, be careful."

"I will." Melissa hugged her close before sending her off, grabbed her bow and arrows and raced back to her family, placed the kids on Artemisia's back, and Ellie and Peaches rushed up to them.

"Everyone! Please! Don't panic!" Marcus glared at her

"I think it's hard _not _to panic when your home is being destroyed by the earth!" He had a point, the only thing they could do was get to the land bridge

"Any questions?" Madison called out

"Ooh! Ooh!"

"Yes?"

"When you drink, water through your trunk, does it taste like boogers?" Dannie and Tyler were trying hard not to laugh

"Well no, well, sometimes, lets move!"

"Marcus? What are we going to do?" Everyone was sheltering up as the clouds darkened,

"I don't know, but we should at least try and keep the kids calm until this is all over. Besides, you know what the earth looks like 20,000 million years from now, right?" That wasn't very reassuring, beside them, Crash, Eddie, Dannie and Tyler were wrestling with each other, along with a fire that Melissa had built, and them, including Ellie and Peaches.

"We'll just have to keep moving on."

The next day…

Manny, Sid, Diego, and Granny managed to encounter a band of pirates, including their leader; Captain Gutt. They tried convincing them to join, and even sang a song, but it didn't work and they managed to escape, alone with Gutt's first-mate Shira, who Diego was smitten by at first sight. But they kept on arguing during the trip, until they got to an island inhabited by hyraxes, who resembled modern-day guinea pigs, and had distracted Gutt and his crew, and Shira managed to keep them from getting attacked by Gutt and risked herself for Diego.

And they began the long journey home, but all while this happened, Peaches was having some peer pressure, Ethan had tried to convince Peaches to lose her friendship with Louis, which ended up with her almost losing her friendship.

Later on, as they were ever so close to the landbridge, the true hurt really reached Peaches this time

"*sigh*"

"What's wrong sweetheart?"

"You ever say something you knew you couldn't take back?"

"Is this about Louis?"

"I messed it up so bad mom."

"It's okay. It happens. Cute boys can whiplash your brain, hehe, no doubt about that."  
"But Ethan was the wrong guy."

"And you figured it out. I know what to say to Louis."

"*Gasp*"

"Oh no!"

"What's going on?" Peaches asked, she and Ellie shoved their way through the crowd, and the sight that met their eyes, was something they hoped wouldn't happen, the landbridge was gone

"The landbridge…it's gone." Then, the huge wall behind them rose even more, and Dannie and Tyler cried out

"No! I'm too young to die!" Tyler whined, Dannie slapped him back to his senses

"Get ahold of yourself Tyler!" She held his tight by the sides of his arms and whacked him upside the head.

Suddenly, everyone heard wicked laughter and Melissa was gotten to first

"Mom! No!"

"You're next!"

"Mom!"

"Peaches!"

"Hahahahaha! Finally! All we need to do now, is wait…"

_**Meanwhile…**_

"Ellie! Peaches! I'm here!...Please…" Everyone lowered their heads until Manny swore he heard something

"Wait! Did you hear that?"

"Manny-?"

"No! I heard something!" Suddenly, Peaches's figure appeared and she called out

"Dad!"

"We're coming sweetie!"

"Daddy!"

"Peaches!"

"Hahahaha! Welcome home _daddy_!" Captain Gutt and his crew had beaten them

"Let go of me!"

"*Gasp!*"

"What are the _odds_?! We were just talking about you! Like the new ship? I call her _Sweet Revenge_." Silas flew overhead, flying in the direction of Melissa and Ellie

"And look here, we've got the catch doujor!"

"Dad!" Melissa called out, she was tied tight and was held by Boris

"Ellie!"

"I'm alright!" Squint tied her vines tighter, "Ah! Let my daughter go!"

"Oohohohoh."

"It's okay. He's wants me, and he's gonna get me."

"Ugh."

"Huh?" Diego saw Shira standing up and giving him a fearful look

"Sacrificing yourself for your _daughters_." He said daughters with venom in his voice, to Shira, she was surprised that Gutt wasn't frightened by Melissa, just years ago, she had the feeling she was afraid of a challenge with the humans, and no matter how much Melissa, as she figured out her name, fought back, Gutt would just laugh off her attempts of escape, "How _touching_. How _predictable_. Now come and get her."

"Hehehehe. Hahaha."

"G'day mate."

"Hey. Remember us? We're the bad guys!"

"Alright! Let them go."

"*Chuckles* I don't think so. You destroyed _everything_ I had, I'm just returning the favor."

"NO!" He was about to get to them, but Raz and Squint got to him and tied him up quick and tight,

"I warned you."

"STOP!" Gutt turned to Crash and Eddie, they stopped in their tracks and pointed to Louis

"Let…the…mammoth…_go._"

"Wiener?"

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! Uh oh, who brought the muscle to the party?"

"Louis! Don't!" Meanwhile, on the third ship, Ethan said to his friends

"What's he doing? He's going to get himself killed." Back to the pirates, Louis, boosted with confidence, said to Peaches

"It's okay! I can handle him."

"How _cute!_ A hero! Let's see where bravery gets you. Gupta! Give the lad your weapon!" Gupta flipped out a very familiar weapon, Bucks. Gupta twirled the weapon in his fingers a couple of times

"Nice knowing you kid." And tossed the weapon into the ice, and everyone watched as Louis tried to pull the knife out of the ice, both with failed attempts, but Melissa had an idea, as Gutt laughed in mockery, Melissa kicked a small chunk of ice to the weapon, loosening it up, and allowing Louis to pull it out, Louis gave Melissa a 'thank you' look, and Melissa mouthed back 'you're welcome. Now go get 'em'. Louis held the weapon up with a determined look on his face, Gutt smirked evilly

"Let's _dance_, _hero_." Louis didn't say anything, but as he was about to get ready to use it, he flund it up in the air, and as everyone watched it, Louis dug under the ice and slammed a huge chunk of ice on Gutts foot, making him let go of Peaches, and Manny and Melissa managed to escape.

Melissa rushed for her bow and arrows, but Silas and Boris stopped her and Melissa pretended to be defeated, but suddenly released a flurry of karate moves and managed to grab what she needed and attempted to free Ellie whe Boris went at her again, but giving Shira a chance to free Ellie, only to be caught by Squint  
"I _knew_ you were a traitor!" His nose began to quiver and Shira said with a cooing voice

"Aw your little bunny nose wiggles in the _cutest_ way when you're mad!" Squint shouted something back and Melissa plugged her ears as a huge rumble could be heard and a _whale_ burst out of the water, and Melissa had a feeling this might be Granny's pet; Precious. But why was it a whale? And not a sea otter of some sort?

Sid was it the blowhole and Precious started using her blowhole to fire away at the pirates, only Gutt avoiding each of the blasts.

The fight was still ensuing, Melissa and Shira sticking side by side when a land mass shot up, with Manny and Gutt on it

"NO!" Melissa cried out.

What seemed like forever ended when Manny appeared on Precious' head and everyone began to cheer!

"How's that for an entrance?" He walked of Precious and Peaches, Ellie and Melissa ran up to greet him

"Dad!"

"Manny!

"Oh man dad!" He hugged the three of them, and Melissa didn't feel like a little girl anymore now, everything had changed. After Shira was accepted into the herd, Peaches asked

"Where do we go now?" Manny grinned at everyone and said

"I have a good idea." Dannie, Tyler and Marcus ran up to Melissa and they hugged, and with Precious' help, the herd, including all the other animals and Ethan' group, headed to hyrax island.

"Whoa!" Dannie exclaimed, "This is so cool! Hey Tyler! Think we should tell our friends about this at home?"

"Maybe not yet!" But we still have a few chances at making new friends!" Diego grinned and said

"And here they come." The hyraxs gathered around their legs and Dannie and Tyler began to play with them.

And with Manny and Peaches, they finally made up and ever since her move with Gutt, she really proved, just like Melissa had done before, that she could take care of herself.

_**End of movie…**_

_All:_

"We are. We are. Not your ordinary fam-ily.

But we can all agree that we are, we are, close as close can be (not too close)

We a-are, we are…We a-are (we are!) We a-are, we are! Family!  
Shira: So It don't matter what it looks like we look perfect to me, we got every kind of lover, I feel so lucky indeed.

Ellie: They can keep on talking and it don't matter to me, 'cause we are, Shira: we are Granny: Ham and Cheese!  
Sid: No, it's we are family!  
Granny: Nah!  
Peaches: Okay so the links in our chain makes us strange, Melissa: But really they make us stronger.

Peaches: I wouldn't replace not a thing, mother or

Manny: Father!  
Sid: Go Manny!

_Rest of song…_

Peaches: We are, we aaarrreee

Granny: Ham and Cheese! Oohehehehe!

* * *

**I have to say, this was the longest chapter for any story I've written! Over 4,000 words! Anyway, pardon the end song, I couldn't get the lyrics right. Anyway, for your reviewers! This is _not_ the end! I will be writing many more chapters following the herds and Melissa's life after this and I will even add Buck in for fun!**

**Cast: Original**

**Manny: Ray Romano**

**Ellie: Queen Latifah**

**Peaches: Keke Palmer**

**Ethan: Drake**

**Diego: Denis Leary**

**Sid: John Leguizamo**

**Shira: Jennifer Lopez**

**Nicki Minaj: Steffie**

**Gutt: Peter Dinklage**

**Eddie: Josh Peck**

**Crash: Seann William Scott**

**Granny: Wanda Skyes**

**Squint: Aziz Ansari**

**Raz: Rebel Wilson**

**Katie: Heather E. Morris**

**Gupta: Kunal Nayyar**

**Flynn: Nick Frost**

**Husky Siren: Alan Tudyk**

**Louis: Josh Gad**

* * *

**My OC Cast:**

**Melissa: Hayden Panettiere**

**Dannie: Kelly Gould**

**Marcus: Chris Galya**

**Tyler: Cameron Boyce**

**(Do not criticize my choice of Voice Actors! They are my choice and will not accept any requests to change them!)**

**Hope you like the chapter!**


	19. Chapter 19

The Other Child Chapter 19: Recovery Part 1

* * *

It had only been 2 months since the event of Continental Drift, you would think after seeing that, you would be fine after a few weeks or so, right? Not Dannie and Tyler. Ever since Manny, Sid and Diego had been dragged away from the rest of the herd during a land-break-up, both of them had been mentally traumatized, they had never been so scared before, and both had actually decided not to go to their first three months of school, sixth for Dannie, third for Tyler.

Dannie was in her bedroom, reading the fifth book of the _Harry Potter _series, and listening to some pop music, still trying to calm her nerves, she ignored her phone buzzing.

Tyler was also in his room, playing a video game on his computer, with music playing. Ignoring everything around him.

Their mother and father, Marcus and Melissa O'Reilly, were downstairs in the living room, watching TV, the house was quiet except for the sounds coming from the TV, they worried about Dannie and Tyler, Dannie wasn't calling her friends scheduling a hangout, or for a party, or for a sleepover. Tyler wasn't out riding his skateboard or football with his friends at the park, instead, they were ignoring everything, trying to get their minds off Continental Drift. Thinking about the aftermath, Melissa asked

"Should we take them to a physiatrist?" Marcus looked at her

"Maybe, child physiatrist, we need to get their minds off what they're doing, Dannie reading I have no problem with, but they are always hanging out with their friends. We need to get them some help."

"Yeah, I'm worried about them, I haven't been this concerned since uncle Sid got snatched by the Dinosaur."

"Good point, yeah, that got me really worried too. Yeah, a child physiatrist should work. Once they've recovered, we can go back to a normal life. But once they've recovered, we have to be careful of what we say around them."

"Agreed. Should we let them know?"

"No, besides, Dannie's dentist appointment's in three days." Melissa sighed and leaned her head on Marcus's shoulder. They would know what to do later on.

* * *

**Short chapter I know, but I didn't know what else to add, despite the fact that Dannie and Tyler are mentally traumatized, I would feel the same way if I was in their situation. So, stay tuned for the next chapter! Will Dannie and Tyler ever recover from Continental Drift?**


	20. Chapter 20

The Other Child Chapter 20: Full Recovery and Dannie's New Year

* * *

An entire year had passed since Continental Drift and both Dannie and Tyler were fully recovered, they didn't really talk much, especially Dannie, but Melissa was waiting to chime in the news she hoped would brighten her daughters soul: Her first year of middle school was about to begin.

Ever since going to a child psychiatrist, Dannie and Tyler had started recovering and their doctor told them, that whenever a bad memory came, they would write it down in a journal and share it with him, the plan seemed to work, and every memory gone into those journals, was forever gone, now Dannie would be able to concentrate in school since it was just three ½ weeks away.

Soon, with her mother and fathers help, Dannie was able to prepare for the school year and one day, coming up to her bedroom after another day of back-to-school shopping, Dannie turned on her laptop and read her e-mail, one of them was from her friend Gail, who lived in Dublin, Ireland at the moment, it read

_Hey Dannie,_

_I've heard a lot of what's happen over the past year from everyone else and I'm really worried about you. I know our times are five hours apart, but I really want you to call me sometime. Maybe we could do Skype sometime? Mom says that we'll be moving back to Tennessee in October, right before Halloween. If you need anything, let me know, okay?_

_Gail._

Dannie smiled, the two of them had been best friends since kindergarten and had been close ever since, because they looked so alike, people used to often mistake them for sisters, the only difference, was that Dannie was tougher and could stand up for herself and did extremely well in all subjects and sometimes had a big mouth, whereas, Gail was often quite, shy and kept to herself most of the time, she was much thinner than Dannie was due to a small eating disorder from two years ago and like her friend, did well, once Gail got back, they'd be able to do everything together like they did in years past.

As three hours passed, Dannie was either reading e-mail, responding to sending texts to friends, and finishing up the last of her summer reading assignment from last year as well as a math packet.

Tyler on the other hand, in his sister's opinion, he lacked half the intelligence Dannie had, of course, this was not true, he just didn't like school and preferred not to do his schoolwork, which had ended up having Melissa and Marcus have a teacher-parent meeting, and Tyler, this new year, was determined not to nearly fail like what happened last year, and so that he could keep the teasing from Dannie behind him.

After everything was completed, Dannie walked outside with her sketchbook and sitting under a tree at a grassy knoll, she quietly drew, while she was working in the peace and quiet, Tyler was down the street playing soccer with his friends, while the laughter could be heard from outside, Melissa watched her children, it reminded her of herself and Marcus when they were kids, sometimes, she and Marcus were complete opposites, sometimes, she wanted the peace and quiet so she could draw, while Marcus played with the young Ice Age animals and prevented them from another stick to the crotch for Sid, or it would be Melissa playing with the kids, while Marcus was reading and leaning on Artemisia's side.

"Good memories." She whispered, she loved her children, and she knew that a new school year would be better for both of them, suddenly, the phone rang, Marcus was the first to pick it up

"Hello? Oh, hello Warren, how's Scarlet doing? She did? Put her on the phone, Melissa needs to hear this." Marcus handed the phone to Melissa while he went to go get the kids from outside

"Hello? Scarlet? Is everything all right? Really? What gender? A girl? Oh that's wonderful? When can we see her? Oh the kids will be so happy to hear about this!" Just as she said this, Dannie and Tyler walked inside and Dannie asked

"Mom? What is it? Dad said it's about aunt Scarlet."

"It is, kids, you have a new cousin."

"Really?"

"Is it a boy?"

"No doofus! It's a girl!" Melissa chuckled

"Actually, Dannie, you're right. It's a girl, and they've named her Isabella."

"Really? When can we see her?"

"We'll be allowed to see her in three days, we're lucky Scarlet doesn't live far away, it'll only be a half-hour drive."

"Sweet! I can wait to meet Isabella!"

Melissa smiled at her two kids, already, this new school year was off to a good start, with a new cousin here, now, the only problem they needed to worry about were their grades.

"This school year is gonna be great!" Dannie cried out pumping her fist into the air, almost punching her brother in the face by accident.

* * *

**Good luck to Dannie and Tyler!**


	21. Chapter 21

The Other Child Chapter 21: Half Heard Part 1

* * *

One evening, during a nice weekend in September, shortly before Dannie's birthday, the O' Reilly family was having a nice evening having dinner, Dannie chatting happily about her day at a party with her friends, while she chatted and Melissa and Marcus listened, Tyler was half listening.

"Hey Tyler? Didja hear that? Tyler?" Dannie sat on Tyler's left at the dinner table, "Tyler? Can you hear me?" Melissa, who sat on Tyler's right, gently shook his right shoulder and said

"Tyler? Did you hear what Dannie said?" Tyler looked up

"Huh? What? What did she say?" Everyone looked at him

"Can you hear alright?" Marcus asked his son, Dannie stood up and said something into his left ear, but no reaction.

Marcus looked puzzled, he asked

"Have you been having any ear pain?"

"A little, but it's because I got hit in the head with a kickball the other day during school. After recess, I could hear fine, but after about a day, I kept on hearing ringing in my left ear." Marcus and Melissa looked at each other and Melissa said

"Finish your dinner and then go to bed."  
"What? But the game is on tonight! It's live!" Melissa gave her son a stern look

"Tyler?"

"Okay! Okay!" Tyler finished his dinner and went up to bed without dessert or the game, Marcus said

"We'll record it and you and I can watch it some other time, okay?"

"-sigh-Fair enough."

Over the next few days, the same thing kept on happening, Tyler just couldn't hear out of his left ear, it was odd.

And Tyler's ear problem wasn't the only thing on Melissa's mind either; her aunt Shira was pregnant, she found out shortly after the discovery on Tyler's hearing problem. As much as she hated to do it, Melissa had to go back to the Ice Age to help care for Shira and the cubs, since they were due soon

"You're leaving?"

"Shira's pregnant, and I've been asked to go back home and help take care of her and the cubs. But don't worry, just let me know when the doctors have found something. Okay?"

"Okay mom. We'll miss ya."

"I'll miss you kids too, I'll be back after the cubs are a week old. I promise."

"Bye mom!" Then, Melissa went home.

Tyler loved his mom, they had a close bond and it was quite strong. I was unlike any mother-son relationship Marcus or his family had ever seen, that fact that she had to go home to take care of family was saddening, but then again, she couldn't be cooped up in Tennessee forever.

That evening, Tyler put on some music to play before he went to bed, but he couldn't hear a thing out of his left ear, almost as if there was something blocking the passageway, like a thick barrier. And then, the ringing came back

"Ah!" Tyler yelped, suddenly, Dannie and Marcus appeared

"Tyler? Are you okay?"

"I played some music but I can't hear anything out my left ear! It's like some sort of plug's stuck in there!" Marcus wore a puzzled look yet again, and told Dannie to go to the phone and call the doctor and tell the doctor the problem and Dannie did as she was told.

As Dannie waited for the doctor to pick up, her heart was racing, was her brother deaf in one ear? She hoped not, she hoped it was just a really bad ear infection. As much as she wanted to call her mother to come back, she remembered Shira and called off the idea. As she explained to the doctor what was going on, her thoughts began to race, she didn't want to live with a half deaf brother.

* * *

**Looks like Melissa has two things she's gotta handle: Her son's hearing problem, and...Shira's pregnancy! The next chapter will be in the Ice Age, and this is the first of three chapters with the same name. At the end of part three, we'll see what happens to Tyler. Don't worry, he won't die. Just wait and see and review please!**


End file.
